Advice practices need to pay attention to next disrupters
Managed accounts, robo-advice, and scaled advice are going to be the norm in the next two to three years, Netwealth believes. Presenting at Money Management’s Fintech, Platform and Wraps conference on Thursday, Netwealth head of managed accounts – strategy and development, Steve Thomas said advice businesses were not fully across technologies that were available. Thomas said 29 per cent of advisers were using some level of scaled advice and 31 per cent expected to use it in 12 to 18 months. “They recognise that scaled advice can certainly help in the ongoing management of their clients,” he said. “The interesting part is for those 29 per cent using it, 40 […]
Ahmed Fahour joins BCG Digital Ventures to stay in identity game
Ahmed Fahour, who has joined BCG Digital Ventures as non-executive chairman for Asia, said the future of e-commerce will rely on trusted digital identity and his new role advising the global venture capitalist, part of Boston Consulting Group, will place him at the forefront of blockchain being rolled into some of the world’s largest companies. After leaving Australia Post as its CEO on Friday, Mr Fahour has re-emerged at BCG, where he worked for 13 years before embarking on a banking career; the new role would take up a couple of days a month, he said, as he “works on the organisation, not in it”. BCG Digital Ventures worked with […]
Fintechs target millennials with online financial services
Millennials, a demographic group born between 1980 and 2000, make up one of the largest living generations and have now overtaken the baby boomers. Millennials are likely to fall into three categories: • Inheritors: With wealthy parents, they are major consumers while they wait to inherit. • Strivers: Coming from a more modest background, they are studying, saving and working hard with ambitions for promotion. They will borrow to support their lifestyle, not unlike inheritors. • Given-ups: They are more likely earning a low salary but continue to consume as much as the other two categories. Buying a house is not on the agenda, so they do not see the […]
Westpac launches new corporate lending portal
Westpac Banking Corp has launched a new internet banking portal for its corporate customers to make it easier to drawdown loans and request guarantees, a move it hopes will help its institutional bank retain customers and lift revenue. Ahead of a market briefing by Westpac Institutional Bank’s chief executive Lyn Cobley on Friday morning, presentation slides released to the ASX show Westpac will be seeking to use new technology to increase customer self-servicing in order to drive efficiencies. In the first half, expenses in WIB were down 3 per cent from the previous half, to $657 million. Westpac Institutional Bank provides 17 per cent of Westpac Group’s earnings and delivers […]
Finch founders urge banks to invest in start-ups, not ‘innovation theatre’
Midwinter launches Kamino – cyber security service for advisers and accountants
Australian based financial services technology provider Midwinter has today announced the upcoming launch of Kamino, a cyber security service for financial advisers and accountants. The offering will include vulnerability assessments, penetration testing and ongoing monitoring in order for accounting, advice practices and licensees to assess the strengths and weakness of their systems. Midwinter saw an opportunity to offer the financial services sector a service which provides a cyber ‘health check’ – helping small to medium businesses identify vulnerabilities in their current systems and to provide guidance when it comes to protecting themselves against potential cyber threats. The company chose to narrowcast the offering to only advisers and accountants as it […]
Optimo introduces robo platform
Optimo Financial is releasing its online financial modelling solution for advisers as it aims to make the provision of goals-based advice more seamless. The Optimo Pathfinder personal finance modelling system is now available to dealer groups, financial advisers and paraplanners, using an algorithm developed with a goal orientated approach. In a statement, Optimo said the solution will optimise clients’ financial strategy to best achieve financial and life goals, accounting for tax and superannuation legislation, family tax benefits, the Age Pension and a host of other factors including the client financial status to develop its strategies. Optimo Financial chief executive Hugh Bannister said: “We believe there is a market niche for […]
Australian fintechs must set sights on Asia: MoneyMe
Consumer fintech, MoneyMe Financial Group, believes the next surge of global fintech growth will be led by Asian markets after a temporary global plateau, as a result of greater market demand and more underbanked citizens, increasing income levels, advanced tech capabilities, and superior tax structures for innovative businesses. Australian fintechs who don’t include Asia in their growth strategies, both in terms of target markets and location of operations, risk falling behind and missing the next wave of fintech as a result of our far higher corporate tax rates, and the comparatively higher quality of our financial services which drive down the urgency for local innovation. This comes off […]
