As India braces for digital payments future, how secure are banks from cyber attacks?
As the government presses ahead with a cash to less cash to cashless economy, the success of the transition will depend on how the battle between bankers and hackers plays out. Bankers must upgrade and fortify their cyber defences as hackers attempt to pinch funds from banks or steal credit/debit card details of retail customers daily. If suddenly the easiest way to buy anything from soft drinks to cars is to use the mobile wallet, a few clicks of the mouse are all that is required to rob a bank. True, in a country with 98% cash in circulation, electronic payments replacing cash will not be easy and will take […]
London retailers will soon be taking payments using blockchain
Fintech company SETL has developed the card with global auditing firm Deloitte. Customers of the UK’s Metro Bank will soon be able to use a payments card that utilises blockchain technology. The card, which is being developed by Deloitte and fintech company SETL, is intended for the retail sector, the aim being to reduce the cost of processing merchant payments compared to credit and debit cards. The service could launch as soon as early 2017. SETL CEO Peter Randall said the card will update the balances of both the retailer and the customer in real-time. “What this allows people to do is to effectively make a payment from their account […]
ANZ, Wells Fargo test blockchain for cross-border payments
Blockchain technology promises to reduce the time and cost of transferring funds and increase access to liquidity, according to ANZ Banking Group and Wells Fargo. The companies made the comments following the completion of a six-month project that built and tested a distributed ledger for reconciling and settling payments between the two banks. In a recent report on their “proof on concept” the banks said blockchain could “add real value to both the customer experience and the efficiency” of correspondent banking relationships, which refers to deals between global banks over access to local payment systems. “Cross-border payments and correspondent banking are ripe for rejuvenation,” ANZ and Wells Fargo said, pointing […]
PromisePay has raised $14 million to boost global expansion
PromisePay, a payments platform, has just closed a $14 million funding round. The raising was lead by Carsales.com Limited, Australian tech VC Rampersand, Westpac-backed Reinventure, US fintech fund Cultivation Capital, 99Designs co-founder Mark Harbottle and former Hitwise CEO Andrew Walsh. The cash will go towards the fintech startup’s global expansion, taking advantage of its position as the only fully managed payments solution for the platform economy. This includes escrow, fraud and risk management, chargeback protection, dispute resolution and identity verifications. Since its launch — just 18 months ago — the startup has grown from just providing payments solutions for marketplaces, to other multi-merchant environments, including on-demand and sharing platforms, crowdfunding, […]
Aussie FinTech Octet goes global with new partner in China
Octet, a global financial technology company, has welcomed Asiafactor (CN) Limited as the latest licensee of the Octet platform. A successful Chinese supply chain finance organisation, Asiafactor will leverage Octet’s revolutionary supply chain management and financing platform to enable its customers to manage and pay international suppliers, saving time and freeing up their cashflow. Asiafactor will offer the Octet-enabled platform to serve both existing domestic small to medium enterprises, as well as to a vast range of prospective exporters throughout China. Customers leveraging the platform will be able to use their existing credit cards or other financing facilities to pay global suppliers at competitive exchange rates, removing the need for […]
Globalisation of FinTech: Are we learning from our neighbours?
Most areas in the fintech space are hotly contested. Anyone watching the fintech space can feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of perspectives that emerge when a new product is launched, an article is written or a tweet is sent. And that is largely because fintech is global. Fintech companies may operate in their own local markets and compete with, or “disrupt”, local banks, but financial technology as a whole is a global dealing. Any discussion of fintech needs to have this perspective. This is not just a matter of having the correct frame of reference for discussion and debate, it ensures we find the right way to […]
Forget Melbourne v Sydney, Australian fintech must take a global view
In 1901 there was such a massive spat between Sydneysiders and Melburnians over which city should be capital of the newly federated Australia that a whole new city (and territory) was formed. Fast forward more than 100 years and nothing has really changed. Squabbling continues around everything from which city has the better cuisine to which has the better events. All good, natural competitiveness, but then last year it encroached on one of our most promising industries – the emerging fintech startup ecosystem. This Sydney-Melbourne fintech civil war risked diverting founders and investors away from the global opportunity. Domestic squabbling was followed shortly by another irrational fear of overseas markets […]
Invoice2go launches mobile payments feature in Australia
SYDNEY, April 12th, 2016: Invoice2go, the App Store’s leading invoicing app, has today launched its highly anticipated mobile payments feature allowing small businesses to receive debit and credit card payments, without having to invest in EFTPOS infrastructure. The launch supports Invoice2go’s vision to make it possible for people to run their own business by providing the simplest way to look professional, track their time, improve cash flow and untangle themselves from paperwork. With more than $1 billion invoiced per month globally, and $200 million per month in Australia alone, the new payments feature, powered by Stripe Connect, is positioned to immediately help Australian business owners across all industries get paid […]
