Australasia


Co-op Money NZ wins credit union legal fight

Co-op Money NZ, the industry body for credit unions and mutual building societies in New Zealand, has won its legal fight to continue providing wholesale banking. The organisation has successfully appealed against the decision of the Registrar of Friendly Societies and Credit Unions. By way of recap, earlier this year, a former Co-op member, Westforce […]

Rambus partners with Eftpos for Android Pay in Australia

Eftpos, the Australian domestic debit network, is using Rambus’ token service provider (TSP) technology to digitise payment cards to support Android Pay. Rambus says TSP enables Eftpos to maintain consumer data securely through tokenisation, which allows the replacement of sensitive data with unique reference numbers so information is not compromised. In turn, Android Pay lets […]

NAB plans 6,000 job losses in digital banking revamp

National Australia Bank (NAB) will make 6,000 job cuts over the next three years with its digital banking revamp and long-term strategy to maintain profit. Andrew Thorburn, NAB’s CEO, says: “I think all big businesses – particularly incumbent businesses – the reshaping of the workforce is going to be significant. And I think it’s important […]

Sibos 2017: NPP a marathon, not a sprint

Payments industry participants in countries about to embark on, or in the early days of, real-time and instant payments infrastructure projects should acknowledge that “it doesn’t all have to happen on day one”.

Rambus and Eftpos team up to support Apple Pay in Australia

Mobile payments firm Rambus has teamed up with Eftpos, the Australian domestic debit network, to help support transactions with Apple Pay for users in Australia. Through integration with Rambus’ token service provider (TSP) technology, the firm says Eftpos is able to support Apple Pay. Chakib Bouda, CTO of the Rambus Payments Division, says: “This partnership […]

Open banking: nothing personal

Financial authorities globally are promoting open banking. While it represents a shift in the mindset of traditional banks, Heather McKenzie, editor of Daily News at Sibos, finds they may be up to the challenge.

Instant payments momentum gathers pace globally as Swift strengthens its role

Instant payments are set to be one of this year’s hot topics at Sibos. Last week, Swift and EBA Clearing announced that users of EBA’s instant payments system, RT1, will be able to access the platform via SwiftNet Instant, Swift’s instant payments messaging solution, from November 2018. Elsewhere, Australian consumers have been told they will be able to make instant payments from January next year.

SocietyOne tops $350m in loans

Australian P2P lender SocietyOne has revealed it has issued more than $350 million in loans on its platform since 2012, reports Julie Muhn at Finovate (Banking Technology’s sister company). Additionally, the company has the highest number of current loans, setting a record for itself with $200 million in its books. “Our growth in 2017 underlines […]

SCU launches AI service for customer queries

SCU (formerly Sydney Credit Union) has partnered with Australian fintech firm Epictenet to implement an artificial intelligence (AI) powered platform for customer queries. The new platform, called “Let’s Chat” (in its initial phase), is programmed to respond to general queries related to home loans, personal loans, credit cards and insurance products. At a later phase, […]

The rise of regtech down under

Could Australia give the UK a run for its money? Wayne Johnson, co-founder and CEO of Encompass Corporation, explores.

Avoka reports record growth for second consecutive year

Australia-based digital banking software vendor Avoka is celebrating its second year in a row of topping expectations. The company has experienced big gains in order numbers (79% overall, 67% new business), opened a new office in Frankfurt, Germany, and launched a new solution to help FIs build and implement their visions for an omnichannel experience, reports […]

Eftpos Australia launches new settlement service

Eftpos Australia, the nation’s most widely used debit card payments system, has unveiled its new eftpos Settlement Service (eSS). According to Eftpos, eSS enables the centralised settlement of CHQ (cheque) and SAV (savings) transactions processed via the Eftpos Hub. Paul Jennings, Eftpos acting CEO, says the implementation took 18 months and with all members now […]

Commonwealth Bank rooting for Australia’s foray into quantum computing

Commonwealth Bank of Australia has joined telco firm Telstra, the Federal Government, the New South Wales Government and the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in an $83 million venture to found Australia’s first quantum computing company. The firm, Silicon Quantum Computing (SQC), has been launched to advance the development and commercialisation of the UNSW’s […]