Fintech Down Under
Cameron Dart is the CEO of International FinTech, a hub that connects Australian fintech companies to the rest of the world and vice versa. The company recently opened a London “launch pad” office that helps Australian startups expand globally and links startups in other countries to the Australian market. To help shed light on the state of Australian fintech, Benzinga caught up with Cameron Dart for a Q&A about innovation and how fintech solves problems for Australian users. Q&A With Cameron Dart What’s the general “lay of the land” of Australian fintech? The Australian fintech industry as a whole is in its infancy compared to the United States and the […]
Peer-to-peer lending bosses split on whether to become a bank
UK’s largest peer-to-peer/marketplace lender CEOs outline two very different visions of the future. Funding Circle and Zopa don’t disagree on much. But when it comes to whether or not to launch a bank, CEOs Samir Desai and Jaidev Janardana have reached a divergence point. Both delivered keynote speeches at last week’s AltFi Europe Summit. Desai’s – which was entitled: “To be or not to be a bank” – left the audience in little doubt as to Funding Circle’s intentions. “We at Funding Circle have no plans to launch a bank,” said Desai. He went on to identify the three types of bank collaboration that have sprung up across the marketplace […]
Incumbents should now be scared of four biggest digital challenger banks
While the disruption of financial services has been going on for a number of years now, the capital banked by four of the most advanced digital challenger banks is hugely significant. Rewind only ten years ago, and if you asked someone on the street to open up their wallet (in a non-threatening way) there’s a pretty good chance it would be filled exclusively with cards from the major high street banks. Back then there was choice, but little to differentiate where you banked your savings, held a credit card or conducted business affairs. We accepted, like we do with energy suppliers, that our banking provider could pretty much dictate terms […]
Fintech helps Chinese SMEs get loans
Small businesses and individuals in China have long found it hard to get loans, as the country’s government-controlled banks prefer to lend to state-owned enterprises. In particular, those living in poorer and less developed areas may not have easy access to a bank. But financial technology, which includes internet banking and has made banking services accessible as long as one has a mobile phone, has become a game changer, said panelists at a discussion at the Boao Forum for Asia. The annual forum in Hainan, south China, touted as China’s answer to the Asian counterpart to the World Economic Forum in Davos, runs from Thursday to Sunday. Mr Li Dongrong, […]
Global fintech regulators promise ‘not to stifle innovation’
Regulators from across the globe have admitted that laws and regulation governing fintech have not moved in sync with technological advancements and steps must be taken to avoid tendencies to “jump in” and “imagine the worst”. Speaking at the ASIC Annual Forum last week on the future of financial regulation, managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore and member of the Financial Stability Board, Ravi Menon addressed the issue of how regulators must respond to fintech moving forward. “Often when it comes to the risk assessment of fintech there is a tendency to have a fear of the unknown or a tendency to imagine the worst. A degree of […]
eWise and TSWG drive digital banking innovation with new partnership
Leading Australian digital banking FinTech TSWG (The System Works Group), has integrated their Digital Play Platform with eWise Aegis data aggregation technology. The partnership offers banks, mutual banks, credit unions and building societies omni-channel banking solutions, allowing end-users to aggregate all of their financial accounts into a single dashboard. TSWG’s Digital Play Platform (DPP) is a highly configurable and responsively designed online banking solution that enables a financial institution to connect with existing and new customers. Seamlessly integrated with core banking and enterprise systems, as well as third-party systems, Digital Play delivers a comprehensive suite of banking functions. Moving beyond transaction-based, first generation solutions, Digital Play Banking provides new opportunities […]
RBS plans to roll-out robo-advice
The Royal Bank of Scotland expects to be in a position to make a decision on the roll-out of robo-advice for mortgages by the end of the third quarter of 2017. RBS is currently engaged in a trial of the technology, which could help it to cut costs as it strives to regain profitability amid the ongoing fall-out from the financial crisis. Automation is seen by the Financial Conduct Authority as a means of bridging the ‘advice gap’ – providing assistance for people unable to afford the services of an IFA – but there are fears it could lead to job losses in the sector as human advisers are gradually […]
MonetaGo aims for Blockchain without Bitcoin for Banking Sector
The US-based blockchain company MonetaGo plans to create a blockchain without Bitcoin to help banks adopt distributed ledger technology. Bitcoin and Blockchain are synonymous to each other, for blockchain is the popular cryptocurrency’s underlying technology. After Bitcoin, many alternative cryptocurrencies have come up, which still uses a distributed ledger either similar to or derived from Bitcoin blockchain. However, the US-based blockchain company MonetaGo intends to change that for the convenience of central banks. In a recent interview with one of the leading news publication, MonetaGo has mentioned that it is going to separate Bitcoin and blockchain technology. It is still unclear as to how they are going to do that […]
