Acorns app hits 100,000 users
In a sign more Australians are looking to invest in their financial futures, over 100,000 users have signed up for micro-investing app Acorns since its launch in Australia in February. Hitting that milestone not only proved the app’s rapid rise in popularity, but it showed a trend among Australians “to look beyond the big four banks for investment and savings opportunities”, Acorns said yesterday. Acorns Australia managing director George Lucas said the app’s success was driven by young Australians who had discovered the benefit of making modest but regular investments, displaying an appetite for fintech innovation that quickly exceeded the growth rate of that experienced comparatively by users in the […]
A VC’s perspective on Blockchain opportunities & impacts on Australia
by Victor Jiang, Managing Partner, Sapien Ventures LLP. I was truly honoured to have presented to and judged alongside a distinguished panel (from ANZ, Westpac, UBS, & Northern Trust) and key industry leaders at the inaugural Australian Blockchain Summit 2016 (Melbourne June 28-30th, 2016), and to have a chance to speak about what we felt are the opportunities and impacts of Blockchain on Australia. (The speech was immediately before a pitch/showcase session of 6 excitingly disruptive blockchain startups from USA and Australia, including one dialling in from 3am in their local time!) __________________________________ I’m really excited and honoured to be here, speaking just ahead of some truly exciting startups in the blockchain space. […]
Robo-advice and mobile alerts are the future of banking
New app aimed at reducing trader errors, while Westpac banks on bots. Banks and financial institutions are ramping up competitiveness and improving their mobile offerings in an effort to maintain and assist customers, traders and employees. A new report by US market research company Forrester says banks will increasingly use banking apps to provide money management tips to consumers, the SMH reported. This sentiment has been realised in Australia. A team of behavioural finance and math experts launched the first ever robotic trading coach, PsyQuation. The robo coach provides a feedback loop alert system that points out costly trading mistakes. How traders interact with the alert and the ways in […]
Why trade finance is a good use case for blockchain
Trade finance is shaping up as one of the most promising early use cases for blockchain technology. The arrival of blockchain is prompting banks to search for analogue processes across the global economy which could be digitised to reduce financing risk. As a cumbersome process using multiple paper-based contracts with settlement typically taking weeks, the $US4 trillion ($5.3 trillion) trade-financing industry is set to be revolutionised by distributed ledger technology in the coming years. Many of the world’s largest banks and various start-ups have been pumping funds into blockchain research and development. They are now branching out of their laboratories to explain the opportunity to customers. In the trade finance […]
Westpac is the world’s best at mobile banking says Forrester
Westpac is the world leader in mobile banking functionality, according to a global rating from Forrester Research. In Forrester’s annual Global Mobile Banking Benchmark, the bank — one of Australia’s Big Four — scored an impressive 86 out of 100 in the evaluation. The global industry average was 65. It was just ahead of last year’s winner, CaixaBank, on 85. Indeed, all of the Big Four banks from Australia were rated by the research company, with Commonwealth Bank and NAB both scoring well. ANZ, however, fell well below the global average, with a score of only 44. The benchmark assessed the retail mobile banking services of 46 large retail banks […]
ANZ CEO Shayne Elliott says digital wallets may displace plastic cards in less than a decade
Digital wallets could take over from plastic credit and debit cards in less than a decade, as consumers become more comfortable making purchases on smart phones, ANZ chief executive Shayne Elliott predicts. Google on Thursday launched its Android Pay system in Australia, which will allow consumers to use their smart phones for payments wherever contactless card payments are accepted, and to make purchases within apps. ANZ is the first Big Four bank to offer the service to its customers, and Mr Elliott anticipates it won’t be long before payments on smart phones overtake those using plastic cards. Digital wallet offerings from banks started to emerge a couple of years ago […]
Google launches Android Pay in Australia
Google has today announced the launch of its contactless smartphone payment system Android Pay in Australia, providing a new way to pay for just about anything without needing to grab your wallet. “We truly believe that we’re at a tipping point in Australia, where we can get mass adoption of mobile payments”, Google’s senior director of product management Pali Bhat tells Fairfax Media, noting that 60 per cent of Australians already make payments with a contactless card. Mobile payment solutions for phones are already offered by Apple, Samsung and some individual banks, but Google believes Android Pay differentiates itself with its ease of use. Because the system is baked directly […]
Mutual banks back fintech accelerator mLabs
Member-owned credit union CUA will turn to young, digitally savvy entrepreneurs to help it address a gap in its business: luring in more young, digitally savvy customers. The Queensland-based company is one of seven mutual banks that have signed up to a new fintech accelerator program run by professional services firm KPMG. The mLabs 12-week program will connect the mutual banks with 14 start-up companies in an attempt to promote innovation. Beyond Bank, Greater Bank, Heritage, IMB (Illawarra Mutual Bank), Police Bank, and Teachers Bank have signed up alongside CUA to work closely with the start-ups to come up with solutions to sector-wide issues, and create prototype products and services. […]
