Fintech Stake launches Christmas gift cards for US shares
Forget movie or David Jones vouchers for Christmas — Aussies can now gift shares in some of the world’s largest companies, from Tesla to Amazon or Apple, to their loved ones. Stake, the Aussie shop for shares, today became the first company in Australia to offer gift cards for US company shares, allowing recipients to redeem them for US shares or Exchange-Traded Fund (industry jargon for leaving it to the experts) of their choice. After massive customer demand and a successful beta launch, the gift cards provide people with a viable alternative to socks and undies. And now the whole family can benefit too: Stake has also launched Stake Kids, […]
Fintechs are the fastest growing startup in Australia
Financial tech-innovators, or fintechs as they’ve become known, are dominating the Australian startup sector with Sydney their hub of choice, a new report shows. And true to the nature of the startup industry, it is disruption in the traditional banking sector that is fuelling the growth of fintechs – as finance-savvy professionals exit the established institutions and put their skills to use in new ventures. The 2017 Startup Muster Report, released on Wednesday, shows fintech startups were the fastest-growing type of business in the startup sector. Fintech Australia chief executive officer Danielle Szetho says she isn’t surprised by result following recent moves by the federal government to open up the […]
Fintech startup, Trade Ledger, launches world-first tech to help banks fight off global tech giants
Career technologists, Martin McCann and Dr. Matthias Born, are launching a world-first lending tech for banks and traditional lenders that will help to equip them against competition from tech giants such as Facebook, Tencent, and eBay wanting to enter financial services. Trade Ledger is the world’s first business lending platform that transforms digital data from business supply chains in real time, allowing banks to assess and regularly update credit and default risk of businesses they lend to. Currently this is only done on a one-off or infrequent basis on a very small sample of invoices, and not on any other trade documents. The platform will finally give banks more advanced network and data […]
Let’s stop making mobile payments a chore
By Keith Brown, General Manager Product, Scheme and Business Development, BPAY Group You can make a payment on almost any digital device, but why can it still feel like a chore? Mobile has been spruiked across product and marketing strategies in all industries for as long as the smartphone has been around, and yet a decade later we’re still not as digitally savvy as we’d like to think. We have tablets, smartphones, and smartwatches, but discrepancies still exist for user experience across all these devices. There’s an influx of mobile-only banks emerging in the U.K., dedicated to ensuring the experience of banking for their customers on the go is as […]
Could Xinja be Australia’s first neobank?
Banking startup Xinja is built solely for mobile and will target tech-savvy consumers. Fintech startup Xinja is on track to becoming Australia’s first neobank, otherwise known as a challenger bank, and has already raised close to $3 million this year. The funding will help launch 5,000 prepaid debit cards to customers before expanding its product offering to bank accounts and mortgages. Xinja will provide a banking solution for tech-savvy customers who want to be able to operate completely via their mobile phone. It will enable customers to use new accounts instantly, to see transactions in real time and to follow their money using simple virtual tools. The government announced in […]
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 […]
Australia is now 5th in fintech adoption – ahead of Hong Kong, Singapore and USA
A global study has shown Australia is one of the world leaders in adoption of fintech products and services, ahead of traditional financial and tech powerhouses like Germany, Hong Kong, Singapore and USA. The EY FinTech Adoption Index ranked Australia 5th in the world for fintech adoption, with 37% of the “digitally active” population using fintech products. “Fintech is no longer just an industry with future potential – it is now an industry which is delivering great on-the-ground outcomes and becoming the first choice for financial services for many Australians,” said FinTech Australia president Simon Cant. China comfortably led the ladder, with 69% of its digital population taking on fintech […]
Australians embrace FinTech as adoption rates double in just 18 months
Digitally active Australian consumers are embracing FinTech at a rapid pace, with Australia now ranked fifth highest in FinTech adoption among 20 markets surveyed globally, according to the latest EY FinTech Adoption Index. China has the highest level of FinTech adoption globally at 69%, followed by India (52%), the UK (42%) and Brazil (40%), with Australia (37%) rounding out the top five. The study, based on 22,000 online interviews with digitally active consumers across 20 markets, including Australia, shows that FinTech services are poised for mainstream adoption on a global scale with an average of one in every three (33%) digitally active consumers now using FinTech. EY FinTech spokesperson, Rowan […]
