The FinTech Report

Philippa Watson is CEO of ubank, an award-winning digital bank owned by National Australia Bank. Prior to ubank, Philippa held a range of senior executive roles spanning digital banking, technology, operations, customer service, sales, finance, risk management, compliance, and strategy. These roles have involved accountability for functions in Australia, USA, UK, China and South Africa.Philippa is passionate about the role organisations can and should play in community wellbeing. She believes that banks should offer customers accessible, uncomplicated, and high-tech banking services to help them be more successful with money.Philippa is a Director of Lifeline Australia and NAB Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of the bank, and a member of Chief Executive Women. In this episode we discuss:•Background to Philippa’s career in banking•A brief history of ubank (started in 2008): savings accounts, home loans•Describing the past two years; the purchase and integration of 86400•Since the acquisition of 86400 in May 2021, what ubank has worked to do – work has been substantial. Summary: Retire the 86400 banking license and brand, and launch a new ubank brand; (existing 86400 customers were met with a new name (ubank), a refreshed and rebranded website, a new app to download in the app store, a new ubank card in their digital wallet and a new Online Banking Experience. Original ubank customers experienced a more gradual introduction to the new brand experience and have been upgraded to the new technology and refreshed brand). Matured the 86400 platform to support larger customer numbers. Built the technology, processes, capacity and skills to support the customer upgrade. Progressed the banking proposition to support future growth and improved service. Migrated all the original legacy ubank customers with Term Deposits and Self-Managed Super Funds to NAB.•Why did NAB/ubank buy 86400? •What was the decision behind keeping the ubank name but using the 86400 tech stack?•What does the tech stack provide? •Migrating customers to NAB and to the new ubank platform•Decommissioning legacy technology assets•Data and AI - how important are these things to ubank’s strategy? How do you leverage data from a customer and tailor products and services to help them? •Designing and delivering an acquisition engine that will attract and onboard active customers at scale through a combination of modern marketing techniques (for the digital generation of customers) and product features that have the potential for virality; and most importantly•Using data and technology to engage customers and help them succeed with money. •Opportunity and challenges for ubank? •Defining the culture at ubank•What is ahead for ubank?•Opportunities for future products?

The FinTech Report Podcast: Episode 42: Max Cunningham, CEO, FCX FCX describes itself as “A new era for private markets. FCX helps companies better manage their investors and securities.”FCX was conceived and built for the private investment sector with the simple goal to replicate the listed market ‘user experience’ for unlisted assets. As a result, we are Australia’s first universal equity management platform built specifically for private companies. FCX enables unlisted companies to manage their cap table, employee equity, capital raising process, shareholder liquidity and much more via a consolidated platform.FCX utilises class-leading Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) infrastructure and couples our deep capital markets experience to automate and streamline the many arduous and time consuming administration tasks associated with managing a company's investors and securities.Max Cunninghan is the CEO of FCX; his background includes Group Executive for Listings at the ASX, Head of Equity Capital Markets at Goldman Sachs, and over a decade at Macquarie Bank.In this episode, we discuss:1.     Why FCX? What problem does it solve for?2.     What does the name ‘FCX’ mean – is it a play on ASX?3.     Why do secondary equity markets need to exist? 4.     How does FCX work? Matched trades? (also legal angle, regulation, liquidity, disputes)5.     Traction; typical clients? – can you discuss case studies? Success stories? How much do people raise?6.     Benefits of FCX for equity owners and founders, staff etc7.     What resources do FCX listed companies need? Audited accounts, company secretary?8.     Growth of the FCX team, backing from Finclear9.     How does FCX earn money? Annual Fees. Listing fees etc10.  Do you de-list? How do you control the bad actors/bad players?11.  Is FCX an on ramp for ASX?12.  Future vision, plans etc FinTechs interested in options for share registry, capital raisings etc: please contact Max on max@fcx.com.au 

Anthony Baum, Founder and CEO of Tic:Toc, shares his journey in revolutionizing home loans since 2017. He discusses how Tic:Toc streamlines the loan process, delivering contracts in under an hour. The conversation touches on strategic partnerships that enhance customer experiences and the impact of open banking through the Consumer Data Right (CDR) Act. Baum emphasizes technology's role in reducing costs and improving service, while also exploring future innovations and how fintech can better empower consumers in managing their finances.

Contact: Mark Tibbles mtibbles@asl.com.au  Delighted to welcome Mark Tibbles, CEO of Australian Settlements Limited or ASL.Mark is a Payments guy having spent most of the last 25 years in the payments sector, including stints at CBA, NAB, Westpac, Clydesdale & Yorkshire Bank, Verifone and Wirecard. Since 2019 Mark has been leading the ASL Team in the shift from aggregator to a next generation Payments Platform service provider. ASL is an Authorised Deposit Taking Institution (ADI) regulated by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) and a provider of B2B ‘Payments-Platform-and-Settlement as a Service’ (PPaaSS) solutions to banks, Fintechs and Corporates. ASL’s goal is to provide platform access to the domestic rails – connect simply and almost self-serve in a complicated world. ASL partner with organisations that are leaders in their field – FIS for NPP connectivity, Shaype for our Platform and API led services, ISW for the latest Fraud and transaction monitoring capability. In the near future ASL will add leading Card Management and Switching services along with Digital Identity and a single pane of glass view of our services.  ASL are Payment tech led and Customer focused. ASL connects banks, fintech’s, Corporates and a range of other businesses to the Payments world. ·          ASL was originally formed by the Building Societies in NSW, VIC and QLD as a cooperative·          ASL were the first non-Bank to be granted an Exchange Settlement Account (ESA)·          ASL is now one of 12 Direct connectors to COIN and the NPP along with the big 4 - ANZ, Commonwealth, Westpac and NAB. ·          ASL processes 100m+ transactions annually and in excess of $650m per day ASL offer access to all the Domestic network requirements like:·          New Payments Platform (NPP)·          Direct Entry·          Cards – Visa and eftpos with the ability to settle Mastercard·          BPay·          Financial Crime/Fraud Services·          RTGS·          Plus some of the lesser known and specialist services like Australclear and Pexa.   ASL also represent  customers and give them a voice in the Industry with organisations like AusPayNet and Australian Payments Plus (AP+). Generally/historically, ASL supports banks, other financial institutions, fintech’s – however their suite of solutions are suitable for a range of organisations that have high payment/transaction flows. ASL see corporate users as a key future customer base along with other wholesale payment service providers who don’t have direct access to the domestic rails. What do ASL customers (generally) need? ·          Access to payment rails / the payment’s world·          Settlement solutions ·          Financial crime management ·          Payment’s consulting/advice/education – this is key – we help our customers navigate a very complicated industry·          Partnering with an organisation with an Australian banking license (ADI)What are their biggest pain points you solve for?·          A partner that helps navigate the industry nuances·          Accessing all services from a single partner·          Getting

Mike Page, CEO Asia Pacific, Mogo Plus To understand responsible lending for home loans; “We argue against HEM because the data tells the truth,” says Mike Page, Mogo Plus.“We enable enterprises to make fully informed customer decisions through descriptive and predictive data insights,” adds Mike. “We are now in the CDR 2.0 phase; let’s focus on the customer – we will move towards more personalisation in financial services, more pro-active, and less reactive,” says Mike Page“Let’s get Open Banking right before we go to other sectors”  Mike Page CEO Asia Pacific of Mogoplus. MOGOPLUS is a global business providing data analytics and insights solutions to the enterprise market. They enable instant decisioning and straight through processing outcomes to financial institutions, credit unions and digital credit providers. Operating across Australia and the UK they work with Big 4 Tier 1 banks, leading neo banks, digital non-bank lenders and a range of alternative finance providers.http://www.mogoplus.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/pagemike/  What’s Mike's background? Why Mogo Plus?What does Mogo Plus do? Transaction data for improving lending experiences, faster and instant decisioning (affordability, serviceability and risk); from home loans to BNPL, including hardship cases. Mogo Plus reduces manual processes. What’s the history of CDR – AND what’s the real benefit?Are we now starting to see the benefit of CDR?Opportunities for future products?What bit of the value chain do you provide?Covers work Mogo Plus is doing with Westpac (using CDR data for home loan decisioning) as well as their Hardship ProgramMortgage Stress Predictor service now helps banks understand impact of increase in interest rates/home loans What enterprises do you work with now, and in the future?  

Can Parpera empower the business owner to run their company better?Daniel discusses the three key things that all business owners want from a fintech or bank:1. Help them receive money simply and easily2. Help them understand and manage cash flow and tax obligations3. Help them gain access to support services (not just banking products)Daniel is the Founder and CEO of Parpera, an Australian fintech that aspires to empower people to improve the prosperity of the communities, and societies they’re a part of, through making it easier to do business.Parpera provides everything you need to manage your business finances in one app - including business accounts, card, invoicing, and real-time spend and tax insights - and is available to Australian Sole Traders (with companies coming soon).https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielcannizzaro/ https://www.parpera.com/  In this episode we cover:Daniel’s background prior to ParperaAbout Parpera: What problem does Parpera solve for?Parpera’s customers: Sole Traders, larger service based businesses. 4 key segments:1.     Professionals: Consultants, Accountants, Bookkeepers2.     Creatives: Designers, Marketers, Web3.     Tradies: Painters, Plumbers, Electricians, Cleaners4.     Health & Wellbeing: Personal trainers, Yoga Instructors, BeauticiansProduct offering now, and in the futureThe highs and lows of fintech/bank partnershipsTraction to date; Team, fundraisingThoughts on Open Banking/CDR?What partners does Parpera work with? Daniel's thoughts on the support fintechs get in NSW/Australia

Super Rewards can help bridge Australia's gender ‘Super Gap’ We’ve all heard of the gender pay gap, but what about the ‘Super Gap’ where women have significantly lower balances of Superannuation at retirement than men?Super Rewards wants to help fix this – in this interview we discuss how Super Rewards links e-commerce (instant rewards) with Superannuation (long term rewards).Super Rewards is an elegant solution to help fix a long standing and complex problem.PLUS: listen to the end of the podcast with a special offer from Pascale and Super Rewards! We are delighted to welcome Pascale Helyar-Moray to the podcast: Pascale has 25 years financial services marketing and brand-building experience. A seasoned entrepreneur, she is CEO & Founder of Super-Rewards, a platform where you earn cash back in your super from your everyday spend, both instore and online. Previously Pascale held senior marketing roles for JPMorgan Asset Management, BT Financial Group and BNP Paribas. Her recent advisory experience includes ResMed Ventures, Investment NSW, and the Australian Gender Equality Council.  In this podcast, we discuss:Pascale’s background?What problem is Super Rewards solving for?What are you trying to achieve short term? Versus long term? Superannuation has an ‘image’ problem. What is one thing you would do to fix it?How important are partners? (CAR/AFSL, technology partner)What have been your key learnings as you’ve dealt with the super funds?Government: surely they would love Super-Rewards? It’s helping Australians have more in their retirement pot and taking the load off them in future.What metrics are important? How do you measure results/growthVision for the future and role of Government.  

CDR opens the gate to the Super App for Australia, says Ashurst Interview with Geoff McGrath, Partner, Ashurst Geoff is a Partner in the digital economy transactions team at Ashurst, with a focus on data, privacy, as well as information technology and telecommunications. Keen supporter of startups, with an interest in the tech sector, energy transition, intellectual property, early stage investment and venture capital.https://www.ashurst.com/en/people/geoff-mcgrath/ In this interview, we discuss:What does Consumer data Right mean?The history of CDR – 2017 Open Banking Review & Productivity Commission Review (looked at entire economy, from banking to telco to energy); the real benefits – data and information has value, and can be used by incumbent organisations, this is now changing with CDR/Open BankingProduct level data vs transaction data, in a standardised wayExplanation of terms; data holders, accredited data recipients, What Government bodies are involved? ACCC (accreditor and enforcer)CDR came out of concern around concentration of players, as well as data sovereignty; the concept that you own your data.Are we now starting to see the benefit of CDR? Open banking, open energy, open telco etc – so the CDR opens up data between new sectors, new products.CDR changes over time: from start to action initiation.Who owns the customer? The bank? The accredited data recipient? Geoff discusses how the CDR legislation opens the gate to the Super AppWhy has the roll out of CDR slowed? What will this mean?Opportunities for future products?Use of Ai to enable consumers to set up goals and use big data plus Ai to deliver the possibly of tailored financial advice.How will data aggregation (aka screen scrapping) evolve? Will they be phased out and when?How does cyber security impact CDR and perception of data safetyThe role of digital identity; role of public vs private sectorWhere should CDR be in a year’s time? Why has progress been paused? Issue of data quality, scams etc. Super App maybe the ‘killer app’ but it may not be ready in 12 months.

The FinTech Report Podcast: Episode 35: Sofie de Vreese, GM APAC, Expensify Expensify creates payments and expenses ‘Super app’ with Freemium pricing model To use Expensify’s own words; “We make expense reports that don't suck - get the app and play around for yourself”Expensify is a payments superapp that helps individuals and businesses around the world simplify the way they manage money. More than 10 million people use Expensify's free features, which include corporate cards, expense tracking, next-day reimbursement, invoicing, bill pay, and travel booking in one app. All free. Whether you own a small business, manage a team, or close the books for your clients, Expensify makes it easy so you have more time to focus on what really matters.Helping to spread Expensify's innovations in Expense Management across the APAC region and beyond, Sofie is a highly motivated, energetic and driven individual, with a great track record in working with cross functional teams and large client groups. Her expertise in marketing, sales and customer management has helped her consistently meet and exceed the challenges of rolling out and growing Expensify in the Asia Pacific region. Sofie has a natural passion for travel, people, different cultures including languages and am fluent in English, Dutch and French. Thank you to our sponsors and supporters:https://www.yodlee.com/au https://australianfintech.com.au/ https://www.terrapinn.com/exhibition/accounting-business-expo/index.stm 

Downsizer is a digital home-buying experience unlike any other! With Downsizer, anyone with sufficient equity in their current home can purchase a new dwelling with zero cash deposit. Downsizer has raised $3.75 million seed capital to accelerate the growth of its SaaS platform operating at the intersections of fintech, proptech and insurtech.Downsizer is helping property developers, real estate agents, financial advisors, mortgage brokers and lenders, and insurance brokers and underwriters engage with Baby Boomers and Gen Xers over 50.  The platform provides digital content and market insights for lead generation. It also has a national property marketplace where developers can list off-the-plan properties and access a real-time sales dashboard.For older owner-occupiers – who may not pass a traditional credit assessment – a Deposit Power Downsizer Bond simplifies the home moving process so that downsizers don’t have to raid their savings or superannuation, or sell their home, to exchange contracts. The bond is also available to investors, including Self-Managed Superannuation Funds.  Downsizer co-founder and managing director Mark Macduffie said the company aimed to help downsizers move so that they could “stop worrying and start living”.  In this podcast, Mark discusses the product, the partners they work with, the target market, fundraising, building the team, and international expansion plans.About Downsizer: https://www.downsizer.com/ About Mark: https://www.linkedin.com/in/macduffie/  Thank you to our supporters:Envestnet Yodlee: https://www.yodlee.com/au Australian FinTech: https://australianfintech.com.au/ Terrapinn and the Accounting Business Expo, March 2023: https://www.terrapinn.com/exhibition/accounting-business-expo/index.stm