Australian FinTech Opens up Vast Opportunities for ICT Companies
Sydney, Australia, 23 May 2016 – Australia’s development as a leader in Fintech innovation will require concerted effort from government agencies and established financial institutions and will involve partnerships and research collaboration between banks and startups. It will also present many diverse and lucrative growth and development opportunities for ICT companies that will help form the necessary ecosystem for a leading Fintech market. Data and connection security will be the most significant challenge for Fintech companies in Australia; largely because mobile payments make up the majority of the revenues of all the Fintech segments. Reliable security will be a key issue and an important selling point to ensure success as […]
NAB, Westpac and Qantas invest in Data Republic
National Australia Bank, Westpac Banking Corp and Qantas have taken stakes in Data Republic, a Sydney-based start-up that has designed a platform which allows companies and government to exchange data in a secure environment. The deal indicates some of Australia’s largest companies are considering sharing data with each other to enhance service delivery but under strict controls to protect customer privacy. NAB, Westpac and Qantas have invested a combined $10.5 million into Data Republic’s recent Series A equity fundraising round. The stakes were acquired through Qantas Loyalty, NAB’s venture capital fund, NAB Ventures, and Westpac’s venture capital fund, Reinventure Group. The deal is Qantas’ first investment in a tech start-up […]
Local tech innovators recognised
A Perth-based fintech startup has been named one of the top finalists in Silicon Valley Forum’s World Cup Tech Challenge, while the winners of a hackathon hosted by BHP Billiton and Unearthed have also been revealed. Local entrepreneur Graeme Speak’s BankVault technology has been selected in the top 24 startups worldwide for the World Cup Tech Challenge. BankVaultonline.com prevents bank accounts from being hacked, and involves placing a physical computing device in an office which communicates with a counterpart service running in a remote data centre. The system is immune to malware and other techniques used by hackers because it runs separately to the user’s own network. BankVault is one […]
Blockchain is here to stay
Blockchain, the technology that underpins Bitcoin, is the talk of the town at the moment. The financial services industry can’t get enough of it. The enthusiasm essentially boils down to the technology’s potential to reduce the financial transaction costs while ensuring robust security. While Bitcoin is unlikely to be make traditional currency extinct, blockchain has provided the impetus needed for new and innovative research into how the slow and often expensive centralised financial transaction systems that dominate banking, so what is this blockchain? Put simply, blockchain is a data structure that can be used to create digital ledgers of transactions shared among a distributed network of participating organisations. Financial institutions […]
DirectMoney unable to fully fund loan demand
Australia’s only listed P2P lender, DirectMoney, says it is unable to fully fund its loans and is asking borrowers if it can refer them to another lender. Chairman Stephen Porges said it is still looking for institutional funders beyond the one it has – Macquarie Bank – to fund the loan demand it has.Until it gets more institutional money he said it does not have enough cash to lend to all the borrowers applying for loans via its website. “The company remains intensely focused on progressing loan sales to institutions and development of a funding warehouse. At the same time we are rolling out a strong marketing program for [its […]
Rubik to Partner with MyState on Digital Banking Transformation
MEDIA RELEASE: Rubik Financial Limited (ASX: RFL), a leading technology company delivering innovative banking, wealth and lending solutions to the financial services industry, has been selected by MyState Limited (ASX: MYS), a diversified financial services group, to partner on the transformation of their digital channels and customer experience offering. Rubik’s technology solution, which will go live in August, will enable MyState to offer their customers a superior digital experience, including access to MyState’s products and services from the device of their choice (desktop, smartphone or tablet) via the operating system of their choice (iOS, Android, Windows), and at the time of their choice. Iain Dunstan, Chief Executive Officer of Rubik, […]
R3 to raise up to $US200m from 42 global banks for blockchain trials
R3 CEV, the consortium of 42 global banks – including some of Australia’s biggest institutions – that is investigating how to employ blockchain technology in financial services, is planning an equity capital raising of up to $US200 million this year. Commonwealth Bank of Australia, National Australia Bank, Westpac Banking Corp and Macquarie are members of the R3 consortium that formed last year, so will be considering over the coming months the extent of their participation in the deal. Banks are investigating how to use blockchains, which could cut billions of dollars of costs from their organisations but also be disruptive given banks’ roles as trusted intermediaries and the fact that […]
Fintech specialists say ‘NextGen banking’ may replace Big Four
Banks of the future will be technology companies with a banking licence, and traditional finance options may give way to more digitally advanced methods and platforms, say fintech specialists. According to panellists speaking at the Fintech CEOs on the Future of Finance seminar in Sydney on Wednesday night, financial technology firms will soon attract market share and talent away from current banking incumbents, while new digital roles set to replace traditional finance jobs. Speaking at the event Jost Stollmann, CEO of Tyro Payments, predicted that ‘next generation banking’ would eventually take over, with at least one of the big four banks to disappear completely in the next few decades. “Can […]
