Profit prize of $800m awaits successful mortgage market ‘disrupter’
There’s an $800 million profit prize should a new player achieve the difficult task of replicating the success of supermarket discounter Aldi in the $1.5 trillion mortgage market, according to analysts. As the dust settles on the major banks’ results season, experts are increasingly mulling whether conditions are as good as they get and how vulnerable the industry is to the horde of new “fintech” disrupters and larger players with plenty of capital to deploy. Westpac chief Brian Hartzer was yesterday grilled on whether the banks were setting themselves up for similar pain being felt by Woolworths, once one of the most profitable supermarkets globally, by propping up margins for […]
BPay first to offer instant payments on banks’ New Payments Platform
Getting paid instantly by quoting a mobile number or email address will soon be possible. Big-bank-owned BPay will bury the need to memorise bank account numbers and allow people and businesses to pay each other with mobile numbers, emails or ABNs via the first payment service to be offered on the $1 billion New Payment Platform (NPP) being built by banks, payment companies and the Reserve Bank. The move echoes the plans of the failed MAMBO (Me At My Bank Online) project run by the big four banks and BPay that had a similar plan but collapsed after NAB and ANZ pulled out over fears some banks would get a […]
NAB does 10-year deal with Visa amid banks’ Apple battle
As the battle between tech giants, card companies and banks for a slice of their substantial unsecured lending profits heats up, NAB has announced a decade-long deal with Visa on new payment innovations. Source: NAB does 10-year deal with Visa amid banks’ Apple battle
Apple Pay to launch in Australia through American Express in 2015
Apple has bypassed banks who are unwilling to give up their card fees by launching Apple Pay with American Express in Australia and a host of other countries. Amex’s global head of mobile products and payments, Tony Prentice, said its customers in Australia and Canada will be able to use Apple Pay for transactions on iPhones, Apple Watch and iPads this year and in Spain, Singapore and Hong Kong in 2016. “We believe it is critical to be on the forefront of seamless and innovative payment solutions for our card members and we are pleased to be able to deliver on that with Apple Pay,” he said in a statement. […]
Has fintech dropped the brand awareness ball?
Has fintech dropped the ball when it comes to brand building? Have we spent too much time developing great products and not enough time spruiking them? If recent research by East & Partners is anything to go by, then yes, yes we have. The study found 39 per cent of micro and SME businesses couldn’t recall a single fintech brand and of those who could, only 61 per cent could articulate what product or service it offered. Moreover, the Brokers on Non-Banks survey found lack of brand awareness was the number one reason brokers don’t refer clients to fintech lenders at the moment. Should the fintech industry be alarmed? Yes […]
Fintech could close $2 trillion SME funding gap
Small to medium enterprises (SMEs) worldwide are struggling for funding from traditional sources, opening up a significant business opportunity for financial technology (fintech) operators. According to a new white paper from the World Economic Forum (WEF), fintech companies are already leading the way in disrupting the financial services space, and are eyeing up the $2 trillion funding gap that exists in the SME credit market. The paper, which was put together by the WEF’s Global Agenda Council on the Future of Finance & Capital, explains that the disruptive tailored services coming from the burgeoning fintech sector include invoice and supply chain financing, equity crowd funding and peer-to-peer lending between SMEs. […]
Six trends shaking up transaction banking
Fintech We are in the middle of a digital revolution, evident in the rise of fintech companies and technologies. For the first time, new technology such as Blockchain and Cloud based solutions were very visible at SIBOS (Swift International Banking Operations Seminar) and technology was the most talked about topic everywhere you went. Despite the buzz on technology, everyone is still trying to make sense of what this means for their customers and their business. Fintechs have forced banks to look at the competitive environment in a completely new way and banks are working out how they can make this work for them. Ultimately, fintechs rely on banks for basic […]
Five bank fees likely to disappear thanks to technology
WHEN you look closely, you may be surprised at how many bank fees, charges and costs you incur; as a result of their cosy oligopoly, Australian banks have become the most profitable in the world, collecting $29 billion in profit in 2015 or $1600 from every adult Australian. This financial year, bank profits are expected to top $30 billion after Westpac, CommBank, NAB and ANZ all raised interest rates outside of the RBA cycle, adding an estimated $1 billion to their bottom lines. But have you ever wondered why certain charges exist at all – or what could be done to get rid of them? A new breed of technology-focused […]
