Four areas Australia should focus on to lead in the coming fintech boom
If Australia wants to lead the next wave of fintech innovation, it needs the next generation of start-ups to be successful. Although the federal government and the corporate sector are on board, it will take more than general support for Australia’s fintech scene to mature competitively. Sydney start-up hub Stone and Chalk’s CEO Alex Scandurra believes the Australian fintech industry is already maturing past apps and gadgets, but the “valley of death” – the time before a start-up is cashflow positive – still looms large in an industry riddled with failed ventures. This is one reason the focus for Stone and Chalk has grown into more of a “fintech ecosystem”, […]
Macrovue announces two new executive hires from Macquarie and BT
Macrovue, an investment service backed by AMP, continues to grow its executive team, announcing the appointment of Sriram Seshadri as its Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and Maz Zaman as Head of Sales. Macrovue offers a leading-edge platform to invest in thematic portfolios of global companies. The portfolios are constructed using in-house research, giving Australian investors unprecedented access to international markets. The two new hires further bolster Macrovue’s strength in global markets. Sriram Seshadri, formerly an Associate Director with Macquarie Group and a Senior Developer with Goldman Sachs, brings even more international expertise to Macrovue’s leadership team as its new CTO. Seshadri has more than 20 years experience building commercially successful […]
H2 Ventures eyes global expansion and data and AI start-ups after fresh intake
Sydney-based fintech accelerator H2 Ventures is preparing to take its program international and expand into artificial intelligence and big data after doubling its intake of startups. The accelerator brings on startups, which receive $100,000 in return for a 10 per cent stake in their company, and in exchange they partake in a program that runs for 20 weeks, based out of Stone & Chalk in Sydney. H2 has just set up an office in San Francisco, designed to support its rapidly-growing portfolio of startups when they expand to the US and take on a fresh intake of 16 startups, after it received 300 applications following a roadshow across major cities […]
How Fintech is shaping the future of Wealth Management
A new report from the World Economic Forum and Deloitte confirmed what many advisors, technology vendors and industry analysts have long insisted: it is established wealth management firms, not startups, best positioned to capitalize on disruptive technology. Robo advisors have proven to be an effective tool for customer engagement, but they’ve also proven relatively inexpensive and easy to replicate. By offering their own robo, firms increase customer stickiness while also avoiding the high client acquisition costs that plague startups. But the future is far from certain. Robos have set a new standard for the kind of personalized digital experience clients expect from financial services, and business-to-business fintechs—the so-called wealthtech companies—continue to automate more middle and […]
CUA joins fintech partnership with Pivotus, says will help develop tech more cheaply and quickly
Australia’s biggest credit union CUA is partnering with overseas lenders to develop banking technology, saying the move will help them innovate more quickly and cheaply. The move from Brisbane-based CUA is the latest example of how banks are adjusting to technological change. Some are taking stakes in online lenders, for example, while branches are under pressure as customers increasingly use mobile phones for banking. CUA chief executive Rob Goudswaard said the deal with US-based Pivotus Innovation would represent a “significant” investment. “We see that the future of banking is going to be … contactless,” Mr Goudswaard said, highlighting the use of smartphones. No solid ideas had emerged yet but Mr […]
A Bitcoin for your thoughts?
By Naomi Christopher, Midwinter Financial Services, Senior Manager – Brand Those of us in the tech world can all agree that Bitcoin is genuinely starting to take off or at least cause a stir…. If by take-off you mean clamber $672 bucks one day and slide down $384 the next. But while some of us look on with wide eyed enthusiasm as the price of it continues to climb and fall and then climb and fall (but mostly climb at the moment!), much of the rest of the world continues to scratch their heads as they grapple to understand “what’s it all about?” And of course, whether it is 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 […]
Government must leave encryption alone, or it will endanger blockchain
If we could give Malcolm Turnbull one piece of economic advice right now – one piece of advice about how to protect the economy against a challenging and uncertain future – it would be this: don’t mess with encryption. Earlier this month the government announced that it was going to “impose an obligation” on device manufacturers and service providers to provide law enforcement authorities access to encrypted information on the presentation of a warrant. At the moment it’s unclear what exactly this means. Attorney-General George Brandis and Malcolm Turnbull have repeatedly denied they want a legislated “backdoor” into encrypted devices, but the loose way they’ve used that language suggests some sort […]
