Mutual lender takes equity stake in fintech platform
Beyond Bank Australia has become the fourth customer-owned lender to take an equity stake in growing marketplace lender SocietyOne. The mutual lender yesterday announced it has acquired $1.5 million worth of shares in SocietyOne, as well as agreeing to increase its funding arrangement with the marketplace lender to $10m. G&C Mutual Bank, Maritime, Mining and Power Credit Union and Regional Australia Bank joined SocietyOne’s share register in May this year following the company’s successful $25m capital raising. The move by Beyond Bank Australia to take a stake in SocietyOne follows a long relationship between the two, with Beyond Bank Australia among the first institutions to become a direct SocietyOne investor […]
VentureCrowd stakes its claim as alternative investment option
Local equity-based crowd-funding platform VentureCrowd and residential property developer Clearstate have closed a second funding round, giving more than 50 investors 49 per cent equity of a development site in western Sydney. VentureCrowd’s crowd-funding platform allows investors to buy equity of a property development before it’s subdivided and sold, and former Credit Suisse adviser Mitchell Hopwood said he invested through his self-managed superannuation portfolio as an alternative to a listed property fund. “The Austral opportunity provided a relatively high, short-term return in a bite-size, easily understandable transaction that is fairly de-risked from an investment perspective,” he said. Mr Hopwood said the crowd-funding platform, believed to be the first of its […]
ASX spends $9m to boost stake in blockchain company
The Australian Securities Exchange has forked out an extra $9.5 million to increase its stake in blockchain company Digital Asset to over 8 percent. The stock exchange in January announced it had paid $14.9 million for a 5 percent stake in the US-based fintech firm. The money was also intended to help fund the development of a new post-trade platform for the ASX based on distributed ledger technology. At the time the ASX said it had the potential to buy further equity if it chose. It today said it had taken up that option and splashed an extra US$7.1 million (A$9.5 million) to increase its stake to 8.5 percent. Digital […]
Cuscal takes c11% stake in software development company Moroku
Cuscal and Moroku, a Sydney-based developer of mobile banking and payments software, have agreed terms which see Cuscal take a circa 11% stake in Moroku and a seat on its Board. Cuscal’s investment is part of a broader capital raising by Moroku. Moroku was founded in 2012 by Colin Weir and Dave Durbin. Its main business is creating immersive digital experiences to help banks connect better with customers, so increasing their competitiveness and ability to acquire more customers. In the financial services area Moroku has already developed two innovative products: Game System – a platform for next generation financial services applications that employs motivational theory and gamification to build financial […]
Australian banks launch Confirmation of Payee – a new defence in battle against scammers
Australian banks have today launched of Confirmation of Payee – a new name-matching service designed to help protect customers.
Open Banking and Open Finance gains significant momentum across APAC
The Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance at Cambridge Judge Business School, have published ‘The APAC State of Open Banking and Open Finance’ report.
How AI is reshaping financial services
Artificial intelligence (AI) is fundamentally transforming the financial services industry, but not in the ways most people expect.
An accountant in your pocket: How fintechs Hnry and Monoova are saving sole traders from tax stress
Of Australia’s 2.58 million small business owners, 64.3 per cent are sole traders. That’s a community of over 1.6 million people.
