'Super apps' to take on dominant big banks

Australian banks face a potent threat from global “super apps”, a leading fintech investor has warned.

From gaming and virtual accessories to getting a home loan or credit card, onboarding into a new job, getting paid, investing, or paying with Bitcoin, there’s potentially an app to cover everything.

Co-founder of Reinventure Group Simon Cant said on Tuesday the biggest threat to Australian banks will be the arrival of “super apps”, not a splintering of the customer base to small neobanks that operate solely online.

“The neobank threat never really hit launch velocity,” he told the AFR Banking Summit.

There’s “still more firepower than ever before” amongst Australian and United States investors despite the recent tech slide on share markets, the backer of “disruptive technology” said.

US-based tech giant Square, which acquired Australian buy-now-pay-later leader Afterpay in January, intends to take its Cash App worldwide.

The software company also wants to integrate Bitcoin into the app in the longer term, saying it is the “native currency” of the internet.

Dom Pym, Co-Founder of Australian neobank Up, said the big banks need to start looking at social media giants, human resources software such as Flare, and gaming apps.

“This is where people are using technology, and so they’re going to use finance and banking through that,” he said.

“That’s where the next generation of banking customers are.”

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Source: ‘Super apps’ to take on dominant big banks | 7NEWS