Bill Gates once said that a company’s most unhappy customers are the greatest source of learning. As the dust settles on the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry, many disgruntled and disillusioned Australians will be hoping this proves true, and that after a decade of scandal the banks might finally learn their lesson and play fairly with their customers.
UBank, the digital bank launched by National Australia Bank in 2008, is set to launch intelligent assistant Mia to help customers through their home loan applications.
As the finance sector deals with the fallout, fintech startups are taking note of both the lessons to be learned and the opportunities that have emerged.
Slyp, which allows merchants to send a customer’s receipt directly to their banking app, has raised $2 million in a seed funding round led by NAB Ventures.
Former Commonwealth Bank executive Angela Clark has been appointed CEO of Beem It, the P2P payments app launched by a handful of banks earlier this year.
ANZ has released ‘Wallets@ATM’, a feature allowing customers to withdraw cash from the bank’s ATM using their mobile device rather than their plastic card.
NAB has allocated a further $50 million in funding over the next two years to its venture capital fund NAB Ventures, bringing the total allocated to the fund until 2020 to $100 million.
VC firm Reinventure Group has closed its third $50 million fund, with Westpac once more backing the firm as it looks to expand its focus to Asia-Pacific.
With a day to go until its offer closes, digital-only bank Xinja has raised $2 million through equity crowdfunding platform Equitise.
Three years in the making, Judo Capital is launching into the market today with a focus on building real relationships with its SME customers.
The idea for it digital-only startup bank Pelikin came from founder Sam Brown’s experiences with personal banking in while Australia and overseas.
Open banking will “revolutionise” Australia’s financial services sector by giving consumers the right to share their data to get themselves a better deal, Treasurer Scott Morrison said.
ANZ has announced the appointment of Ron Spector as its managing director of New Business, Emerging Technology and Ventures.
Westpac is set to launch PayWear, its own wearable offering allowing customers to make tap and go payments on contactless-enabled terminals.
Pivotus Ventures has announced a partnership with CUA which will see CUA customers given access to Pivotus’ new banking platform.
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