Investing

Aug
02

FinTech Solutions For Enhanced Income and Economic Growth

Small business plays an important role in innovation and employment, so financial mechanisms that make it easier for small business to grow must be welcomed. P2P Business Lenders are intent on improving small business financing options by connecting investors (i.e. lenders) with a choice of loans in a digital market place. Much like an eBay for small business loans or a match making market. P2P Business Lending is about using technology to make what was once unviable, viable. This article looks at emerging innovators ThinCats and True Pillars as a source of funding for small businesses and enhanced income for professionally managed SMSFs. Technology Makes Small Loans Affordable Small business […]

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DomaCom partners with peer-to-peer lender

DomaCom has announced it will partner with a peer-to-peer lending company to extend opportunities for advisers in the property sector. DomaCom chief executive Arthur Naoumidis said DomaCom’s partnership with ThinCats Australia will allow advisers to be on both sides of property transactions by creating leveraged book builds. “This also provides the 350 lenders on the ThinCats platform the opportunity to gain exposure to property assets and the ability to lend funds at an attractive interest rate with a lower risk profile,” Mr Naoumidis said. ThinCats Australia, which has been operating in Australia for the past 18 months, is a peer-to-peer lending platform for secured business loans to small and medium […]

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Aug
02

RateSetter Australia passes $50 million in record time

This month RateSetter achieved an important milestone – passing $50 million in funds matched between investors and creditworthy borrowers. This milestone was reached in record time for an Australian peer-to-peer lending platform. RateSetter Australia CEO, Daniel Foggo, commented: “From the start our objective has been to give Australian investors and borrowers a better, fairer deal. Our growth since launch shows the enthasiam with which Australians are embracing an alternative that offers them better value and real convenience compared with traditional financial institutions. “Combined with the success of RateSetter in the United Kingdom, this record-breaking growth makes the RateSetter group one of the largest and fastest growing online retail money markets […]

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Aug
02

Stockspot integrates with Class to provide accountants a direct data-feed for SMSFs

Stockspot, Australia’s leading automated investment adviser and fund manager, today announced an integration with Class Super, the leading provider of cloud SMSF administration software.   The integration will provide SMSF accountants and their clients with a direct data connection from Stockspot to Class enabling income processing and enabling investment tax reporting. Accountants will be able to receive a daily data feed which includes their client’s Stockspot portfolio investments, capital gains, dividend statements and franking credits. It will also automatically generate tax summary statements, cutting down on hours of administration and analysis of taxation data.   Kevin Bungard, CEO of Class, said: “Robo-advice is the fastest growing areas of retail investment […]

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Jul
29

Fintech luring more bank customers, says UBS

More Australians will turn to start-ups for financial services in the next year, according to a UBS report, which shows incumbent banks are complacent about the threat of disruption but are also seeking to partner with fintech firms to help them cut costs and improve customer experiences. UBS banking analysts surveyed 27,914 customers of more than 210 banks in 24 countries, along with 61 management teams from banks around the world. Local UBS banking analyst Jonathan Mott along with analysts in London, New York and Tokyo contributed to the global report, titled Global banks: Is fintech a threat or an opportunity? UBS suggests the answer to the question is “Both”. […]

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Jul
27

Stockspot launches AI for financial advice

Local automated investment adviser and fund manager Stockspot has announced a move into artificial intelligence and machine learning, launching what it says is Australia’s first digital financial assistant. Stockspot founder and CEO Chris Brycki said the AI functionality analysed the data of thousands of clients and made targeted recommendations, helping investors optimise their portfolio as it learns. He said the robo-adviser was launching as part of a new investment dashboard, designed to make tax reporting easier and give users more control over investments. “Stockspot introduced robo-advice to Australia 2014 which automated and lowered the cost of investing. We see AI and machine learning as robo-advice 2.0, it is the future […]

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Jul
26

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 […]

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Jul
21

Quantifeed Raises US$4.5 Million in Series A Funding

Quantifeed, a leader in digital wealth management solutions in Asia, has reached a significant milestone by closing US$4.5 million in a Series A financing round. Shanghai-based PGA Venture Partners led the investment. The funds will enable Quantifeed to accelerate expansion in key markets in the Asia Pacific region, including China. “The battle in digital wealth management will be won by the institutions with the strongest distribution and the richest customer experience. We are working with some of the top institutions in Asia to build them a customer investment journey,” said Alex Ypsilanti, CEO and Co-founder of Quantifeed. “PGA Venture Partners has an incredible track record of building successful companies and […]

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