The rise of non-banks
Non-bank lending reached an 11-year high in September 2018, and the share of broker originated loans with non-majors and their affiliates increased by almost 3% in the January to March quarter. Capitalising on the trend private equity firms from across the world are now looking for a foot in the door, with a number of major acquisition deals confirmed since 2017: KKR took over Pepper Money; Blackstone became a majority stakeholder in La Trobe Financial; and Cerberus Capital Management acquired Bluestone. Royden D’Vaz, head of sales and marketing at Bluestone APAC, says, “This acquisition enabled us to pursue aggressive growth targets via mass rate cuts and strategic growth across all […]
Fintech disruption threatens wholesale payment revenues
Banks with large wholesale payments and cash management operations must innovate to avoid being ousted by disruptors. Wholesale payments and cash management (PCM) is a rapidly growing area, but existing players are under threat from technological disruption and must innovate in order to survive, according to a report by management consulting firm Oliver Wyman. In ‘Wholesale payments report: Disrupt from within’, the consultancy argues that banks must look closely at the strategies adopted by challengers and make changes to their legacy systems in order to defend their turf. “We see up to $175 billion (70% of revenue pool) in revenues at risk for incumbents,” writes Ronan O’Kelly, partner at Oliver […]
Competition in SMSF market tipped to turn as robots enter
A panel of financial experts have staked their bets on robo-advice as the future of SMSF investment. The panel, which was hosted by the SMSF Association and included representatives from the Australian Taxation Office, ASIC, Investment Trends, SuperConcepts and OpenInvest, emphasised the need for SMSF members to keep up with technological advancements in order to continue investing wisely and maximising their assets. In the aftermath of the royal commission’s findings, trust in advisers in Australia is at an all-time low. As a result of such sentiment and the current advancements in technology and AI (artificial intelligence), the expert panel suggested the way forward for SMSF investors will likely be engagement with […]
Financial services urged to ‘Hayne-proof your business now’
Expertise automation platform, Open Orbit, is urging financial services firms not to wait until February, but to ‘Hayne-proof” their business immediately using new “expertise automation” (EA) technologies that could minimise impacts from the Royal Commission on customers, reputation, and costs. These technologies use AI and algorithmic guidance to optimise highly cognitive tasks that require thinking, reasoning, decision-making, understanding, and learning, in order to eliminate problematic, human-driven processes at half the cost and time of a consultant. Firms that use these now could quickly gain a competitive advantage compared to those who wait for the recommendations of the Commission before overhauling processes, according to Open Orbit. “When Commissioner Hayne hands down […]
Xinja appoints Tesla Senior Engineer Thomas Vikstrom to Board
Xinja, which is building an independent, Australian, 100% digital ‘neobank’, today announced that Tesla senior engineer, Thomas Vikstrom, has been appointed to the Xinja Board. Mr. Vikstrom is an engineer with nearly 20 years of experience leading product development and engineering programs at Tesla, Ford, Noble Metal Processing and SSAB HardTech, Inc. Vikstrom is currently a senior engineer at Tesla where he has worked for nine years, helping to develop and introduce Tesla products. “Banking, like automotive in the past, is an industry ripe for change,” Mr. Vikstrom said. “I’ll be looking beyond what is, and imagining what could be, enabling Xinja to disrupt banking and improve the lives of […]
Tech tool to support Chinese investment in Australia
A fintech has announced that its verification tool will be offered in China to support the purchasing of Australian property. Through IDSecure, legal technology provider GlobalX has expanded its Verification of Identity (VOI) technology into China to help facilitate the purchasing process for Chinese investors looking to purchase property in Australia. GlobalX has said that IDSecure’s bilingual verification agents, based in Beijing’s China World Trade Centre, will provide a complete VOI service to “increase the efficiency of land and property transactions in Australia”. GlobalX CEO Peter Maloney said that the announcement enables Australian legal practitioners to “quickly and easily” verify their China-based clients. “This service means IDSecure’s VOI professionals will […]
CBA joins regtech group to improve compliance
CBA’s head of governance and assurance, Jasper Poos, will join the board of the RegTech Association, a one-year old industry association.
Arctic Intelligence reels in $2.8m to fuel global expansion
Arctic Intelligence, a provider of cloud-based audit, risk and compliance platforms, has raised $2.8m in fresh funding. The capital came from high-profile angel investors, comprising of experienced leaders in their field and includes entrepreneurs, career bankers, professional investors, venture capitalists and two ex-CEOs from publicly listed companies. It will allow the RegTech to fast-track its global expansion plans, starting with acquiring full control of AML Accelerate from its former joint venture partner, Initialism. Founder and CEO, Anthony Quinn, said, “Following our capital raise, it was a logical move to acquire Initialism’s stake in AML Accelerate to take full ownership and control, an important step in achieving our future growth plans. […]
