The blockchain revolution in banking and trading
A change is coming to financial services that its proponents compare to the introduction of the internet: its effects will be dramatic, but it’s hard to see all its potential yet. The change is the introduction of blockchain, or distributed ledger, technology, which could have broad impacts across banking and trading for both individuals and institutions. For private investors, the technology could allow for cheaper share trading and faster settlement. It could also help provide confidence to market participants in times of stress and allow more issuance of stock, particularly from smaller companies. Blockchain technology is best known for its role underpinning digital currency bitcoin, but its uses are much […]
ANZ Bank ups cloud focus with open networks for fintech collaboration
ANZ Banking Group has upped the ante in its adoption of cloud-based services in order to pursue a more flexible technology strategy, with Netflix-developed software to stop outages and the door left open to collaborate more openly with emerging fintech start-ups. The bank’s general manager of consumer digital technology Christian Venter told The Australian Financial Review it has significantly increased its use of cloud platforms – most notably the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Cloud – to host more dynamic content on its websites and mobile apps, and was designing new systems that would allow access for data sharing with external organisations. The move to open up systems comes amid a […]
Banks to develop new digital cash unit for settlement
Four of the world’s biggest banks have teamed up to develop a new form of digital cash they believe will become an industry standard to clear and settle financial trades using blockchain, the technology underpinning bitcoin. UBS, the Swiss bank, pioneered the “utility settlement coin” and has now joined forces with Deutsche Bank, Santander and BNY Mellon – as well as the broker ICAP – to pitch the idea to central banks, aiming for its commercial launch by early 2018. The move is the first example of a group of leading banks coming together to co-operate on a specific blockchain technology to harness the power of decentralised computer networks and […]
Big banks are closing their ranks to fintech
Australia’s largest financial institutions are turning away from the fintech scene they have worked hard to embrace. Australia’s largest banks have been turning their backs away from fintech in recent weeks, with the issue of data sharing again causing a rift between the established institutions and their tech counterparts. A tumultuous few weeks fighting over Apple Pay has culminated in one of the Big Four turning its attention back to a different area of fintech. The Apple Pay saga At the end of July three of the Big Four banks – Commonwealth Bank, NAB and Westpac – along with Bendigo Bank and Adelaide Bank applied to the Australian Competition and […]
Coles backs Westpac, CommBank, NAB, and Bendigo and Adelaide Bank in Apple Pay fight
Retailers including Coles have thrown their support behind a push by several big banks to put their rivalry aside and negotiate as a bloc with Apple over its digital payments service. Apple’s current constraints on “digital wallets” provided on the iPhone threaten to stifle innovation and competition, the retail industry’s peak body told the competition watchdog. In what the banks say is a world first, Westpac, Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank, and Bendigo and Adelaide Bank are seeking an exemption from competition laws so they can negotiate as one, and launch a collective boycott of Apple Pay. The move, if approved, is intended to pressure the technology giant to allow […]
CBA accused of blocking fintech Acorns in password row
Commonwealth Bank of Australia has sent alarming emails to thousands of its customers who are engaging with fintech start-ups, warning that sharing internet banking passwords could invalidate the protection CBA provides from losses on accounts relating to fraud. But Acorns, which is competing with the banks’ retail wealth divisions, says CBA’s communication is designed to slow its rapid growth and thereby reduce competition. CBA is “cloaking with security messages a way of being anti-competitive to the whole fintech industry,” said George Lucas, chief executive of Acorns in Australia. “It is strategically targeted at fintechs they now see are growing, and we are a major driver of that.” Acorns, a US-based company that helps users invest spare change in exchange traded funds, has been growing its Australian users at around 2500 each week to around 130,000 since its local launch in February. Around 70 per cent […]
Banks resist fintech push for open data regime
If banks were required to open their customer data to competitors, economic growth would be bolstered through financial services competition and customer service would be improved by allowing fintech companies to create better-priced financial products, argues Fintech Australia, an industry group representing financial technology start-ups. The Productivity Commission’s review into ‘Data availability and use’ is looking at whether a system of “open APIs” [application programming interfaces] could be created along the lines of a new regime in Britain to allow competitors to plug directly into data sets held by banks, such as transaction account activity. Fintech Australia has asked the commission to recommend an “open banking API” regime be mandated […]
Apple Pay: Banks ask for help from ACCC in fight over digital payments
The big four banks are used to being the big guys in town, but Apple is bigger than all of them combined. Apple has made its name and fortune on a closed system and Apple Pay, a mobile payment service and digital wallet, is another platform that does not connect with the systems of other providers. That has become the sticking point with the banks, which have been developing their own ‘e-wallet’ offerings that Apple is refusing to accept. “This is what they’re concerned about. It’s not really about consumer choice. It’s about maintaining their monopoly position on these interchange fees and maintaining control of their consumers,” said Dr David […]
