Resellers, get yourself a Bitcoin account and get to know blockchains
Don’t know what the hell I’m talking about? Bitcoin should need no introduction. If you haven’t heard of the world’s best-known cryptocurrency then spend some time with our old friend Mr Google and get up to speed. The news here isn’t Bitcoin itself. It’s the backend technology that makes Bitcoin work which has found itself on the PM’s National Innovation and Science Agenda. The blockchain is a new kind of database. Although it was first invented to store financial transactions with Bitcoin, in principle it can store any kind of data. The magic about blockchains is that they are distributed ledgers, just like the internet is a distributed network. Every […]
NAB launches instant card feature with NAB Pay
Whether you’ve lost your card or left it at home, you can now use NAB Pay to make contactless payments with your Android phone. NAB is the latest bank to launch a new feature to add to the contactless payments bandwagon. With the launch of a new instant card feature on the NAB Pay app, customers with compatible Android devices can now use their phone to make payments if they’ve lost their card. As a replacement card typically takes a few days to arrive, the feature is an easy way for cardholders to continue making payments without their card. You can use your Android phone for payments wherever contactless cards […]
ANZ backs private blockchain, but won’t go public
Like all the big banks, ANZ Banking Group is experimenting and investing in blockchain technologies, but don’t expect it to adopt a public ledger any time soon. The recent hack of the Decentralised Autonomous Organisation (DAO), a cryptocurrency experiment built on the Ethereum blockchain network that raised more than $US150 million worth of cryptocurrency, served as further proof for the bank that public blockchains were still too risky for adoption, and would likely remain so for the forseeable future. “The point about who controls a public blockchain is slightly worrying and what happened with Ethereum two weeks ago is a great test case,” ANZ group strategy executive manager Nicholas Groves […]
Link Digital Solutions announces partnership with Ignition Wealth
Super advice tools integrating with online portals to increase consumer engagement Digital and mobile solutions provider Link Digital Solutions today announced its successful integration with digital advice provider Ignition Wealth. The integrated offering will provide superannuation fund members with seamless access to advice tools directly through Link’s online member portals. “The partnership with Ignition Wealth will allow us to prepopulate superannuation advice tools such as personal projections and simulations, and make them readily available within our clients’ online member portals. Ultimately, this will assist funds as they support their members in the journey from accumulation to retirement. “We seek to integrate with specialist partners in order to […]
Which fintech innovations are really adding value to customers?
Financial services, of all sectors, has seen some of the most significant technology innovations in recent years. Banks and insurance companies have been very keen to leverage technology in such a way that is mutually beneficial to both vendor and consumer, and now even superannuation is getting involved in the technology revolution. While there is a lot of innovation happening for the sake of it, not all of it is useful for the end user. It sounds simple, but what we learned as we developed our automated SMSF solution is a lesson that a lot of other financial services apps seem to forget at times; good design principles that keep […]
NAB’s Andrew Thorburn: ‘We are a fintech company’
National Australia Bank must harness the hunger of start-up companies if it is to fend off competition from technology-based rivals, chief executive Andrew Thorburn says. Amid predictions the banking sector will face intense disruption from digital businesses, Mr Thorburn on Tuesday said fintech firms were attracting more and more funding in a world of ultra-low returns. Big banks have a reputation for being bureaucratic institutions, and Mr Thorburn said NAB needed to emulate some of the traits of its smaller start-up rivals. “I actually think we are a fintech company ourselves. We have to have the mindset of a fintech company, and I actually think we’ve got a lot of […]
Fintech is going to be much bigger than you think
If payments can be made anywhere, anytime, across any device, why do you need a currency? Or even a bank? The “fintech” revolution is upon us – but what we’ve seen may only be the start of it. Fintech – a term coined with the listing of peer-to-peer lending platform LendingClub on the New York Stock Exchange in late 2014 – is not only a portmanteau of ‘financial technology,” it describes a whole new industry composed of companies that use technology to make financial services more efficient. It’s big, it’s growing and it’s disruptive. “Fintech is set to change finance as profoundly as the issuance of the first permanent banknotes […]
2 Upcoming FinTech IPOs
For decades financial services in numerous flavours were the exclusive province of the banking sector. To get a loan, pay bills, apply for credit cards, or transfer money, consumers and corporations alike turned to banks. It is hard to imagine the rise of the Internet is little more than 20 years old and the rise of smartphones is even more recent – less than 10 years. As a direct result new industries are emerging, among them FinTech, or financial technology. FinTech companies offer alternatives to the banks and as such stand ready to massively disrupt the way financial services are delivered. Direct peer-to-peer lending and crowdfunding are changing the way […]
