NAB is opening its data vaults for fintechs
NAB chief executive Andrew Thorburn says he will support moves to require banks to share customer data, a key requirement for fintechs to compete with the big players. “We welcome competition,” he told the House of Representatives economics committee. “That’s how this bank has survived and competed for 150 years. “And now we’ve got new competition, fintechs that are coming at us and we welcome that too. You have to lift and get better and that’s good for customers.” Thorburn also supports greater account portability, where a customer could more easily move to a new bank without having to change automatic payments. In the UK, the Competition and Markets Authority […]
UBS invests big in blockchain future
Global investment bank UBS is throwing its resources behind the blockchain’s transformative potential, investigating a range of applications such as smart bonds, cross border payment transactions on the distributed ledger and a digital representation of physical currency. In 2015 the bank opened an innovation lab designed to explore how the blockchain could be used by the financial services sector and how it would disrupt traditional banking models. Now its research will turn into reality. UBS group chief operating officer Axel Lehmann told The Australian Financial Review the blockchain could be “the next internet” in terms of its potential, but there were still questions to be answered. “We don’t want to […]
Australia leads the way in revolutionary blockchain technology
Good news on the #Innovation front! Australia leads the way in developing international standards for blockchain technology. Neil Buckland explains this new technology predicted to revolutionise practically anything! Australia leads the way for incorporated blockchain technology Blockchain technology has been in the news a lot recently. Many industries are even predicting it could be the future for the way in which they operate. Australia has recently received the go-ahead to develop the international standards of the technology; a move which Standards Australia says will create better market confidence and certainty. So what exactly is blockchain technology and how could it aid businesses? Understanding blockchain technology Blockchain technology is most commonly […]
Challenging the big banks
Atlassian’s co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes jokes that he loves the famous quote from Amazon’s founder, Jeff Bezos: “Your margin is my opportunity.” Bezos has created one of the world’s biggest and most successful retail giants using that approach. Atlassian’s spectacular global growth as a start-up software company from Australia shows that Cannon-Brookes has been able to adopt a similarly disruptive style. But one of Cannon-Brookes’ key targets in terms of taking advantage of margin and opportunity remains Australia’s big banks. It also made him an early supporter of Tyro Payments and now of chief executive Jost Stollman’s determination to challenge the power of the banks with Tyro’s new banking licence. To Cannon-Brookes, […]
New FinTech Uno Home Loans lands a $16.5 million investment from Westpac
New Australian FinTech company ‘Uno’ has landed a $16.5 million investment from Westpac after its success in the digital mortgage service in the past few months. The major bank investment is set to expand the company even further as customers are discovering the benefits of having a greater power in the home loan search process. Chief Strategy Officer at Westpac, Gary Thursby, said “uno’s success has been impressive and we’re seeing its potential to become a serious player in the home loan market”. Westpac has been involved with uno since the concept phase and Mr Thursby is pleased to announce the investment where Westpac will be a strategic investor at […]
Fintech moves in when banks fail their customers
In November the Monetary Authority of Singapore will hold a major fintech festival as part of the regulator’s push to promote financial services technology. It’s all part of what broker CLSA calls the Singapore government’s $35 billion campaign to promote technology in the country. A recent Ernst & Young report ranks Singapore fourth overall behind Britain, California and New York in terms of global fintech ecosystems. Australia came in fifth in the survey, behind Germany but ahead of Hong Kong. Australia ranked third behind Britain and Singapore in terms of fintech policy, including regulatory regimes and tax policy. It ranked fifth in terms of talent and capital and seventh in […]
Record year for Australian FinTech company Avoka
Australian fintech Avoka, the acknowledged leader in digital customer acquisition for major banks and other financial service companies in Australia and globally, today said it achieved a record level of orders in fiscal 2016. Underpinned by ongoing market expansion and support from major international customers, orders grew 52 percent year on-year. Annual subscriptions rose 59 percent in the year to June 30, 2016, reflecting significant commitment by clients in major markets such as the US and UK to product development and the customer acquisition simplicity offered by the Avoka Transact platform. With clients including four of the top 10 banks in Australia, two global banks and five of the top […]
ANZ Apple Pay users hit 250,000
Around a quarter of a million ANZ Banking Group customers are understood to be using Apple Pay, a number that exceeds the bank’s expectations four months after the service was launched. It’s also a number that’s set to rise, with ANZ to announce on Tuesday that its Mastercard customers are also able to load their credit cards into Apple’s digital wallet. Apple has restricted ANZ’s reporting of the number of cards that have been loaded onto Apple Pay since it jumped ahead of its rivals at the end of April and struck a deal with the tech giant to allow ANZ Visa and American Express cards to be loaded onto […]
