The FinTech Report

Interview with Jordan Lawrence, Co-Founder & Chief Growth Officer, Volt.io Jordan Lawrence; Co Founder & Chief Growth Officer, Volt.io | European Advisory Board Member Merchant Risk Council | Real-Time Payments EverywherePrior to Volt.io Jordan was founder of PCN: PCN Capital is a leader in recruitment, focusing on Payments, Fintech, Data Science & Cyber Security through it's brands. Jordan is also a kite surfing expert and started his career in sports and kite surfing instructingVolt is building the next generation payment network that is global, instant and interoperable - connecting real-time payments everywhere. In Volt’s words they are “driving the shift to an era where real-time is the only time.” In this episode, we cover:1.     What is the vision for Volt.io  2.     Progress to date – product, countries3.     Fundraising – from who? Best places & funds/people to raise from?4.     Building the team: in UK, Brazil, Asia, and then Australia5.     Plans for Australia? What will your service be? Target market?6.     What is unique or better about Volt.io in Australia?7.     Typical customer?8.     Partners in Australia? 9.     Why partner, why not go direct?10.  Thoughts/comments on Open Banking 11.  Message to the fintech market? Learn more: https://www.volt.io/ 

The FinTech Report Podcast: Episode 47: Interview with Alexandre Chavotier, Co-Founder at Upworth “Money works better when it’s all in one place; Upworth is a dashboard to rule them all,” says Alex“For decades the greatest advantage for financial institutions was their monopolistic hold of your personal data … open banking changed that”“You can refinance your mortgage within the Upworth App,”  About Alex:●      Co-founder and CEO of Upworth●      Started career in investment banking in Europe before working at McKinsey and Quantum Black in Sydney. Was at the forefront of McKinsey´s work in AI, including the development of a trading solution that secured internal VC funding. Consulted to all the large Australian banks on an array of strategic topics and projects●      Came back to Australia about 1 year ago to start Upworth after a 3-year stint in Mexico as right-hand to the Founder and CEO of ZeBrands, a successful scale-up comparable to Koala hereAbout Upworth: https://upworth.com.au/ ●      Upworth is the wealth superapp. ●      A one-stop-shop for your personal finances where you can connect all your accounts to track your entire net worth, access unique and personalized insights and apply to the best financial products in a few clicks 1.     What is your vision for Upworth -  Why did you want to start Upworth? 2.     What do you do? Progress to date 3.     CDR and Open Banking – enables the magic4.     It’s not PFM. Its wealth management, it’s an enabler for other services – a dashboard to rule them all5.     Fundraising. Best places & funds/people to raise from?6.     Target market? Typical customer?7.     What is unique or better about Upworth? Typical customer?8.     Partners in Australia? 9.     Thoughts/comments on Open Banking (and/or screen scraping)10.  Message to the fintech market? More CDR!

Systematic change requires collective actionMisha has worked at a number of exciting high growth companies in tech as well as some well known brands in finance and banking, including Boston Consulting Group, the Commonwealth Bank, Uber, startups Eucalyptus (healthcare) and Vow (cultured meat).Misha is the co-founder of Grapevine. Grapevine empowers individuals in Australia's tech scene by spotlighting personal stories and insights. Grapevine provides advice based on lived experience and general legal know-how, to reshape power dynamics for a safer, more inclusive environment.1.What is the story behind Grapevine? 2.Are you a media platform telling stories, self help, legal help; all of the above?3.What is wrong with tech culture?4.What can be done – and the role Grapevine plays – esp role of making stories public – what media works best? LinkedIn, mainstream media?5.Examples of toxic culture6.What to do if you’re in a toxic culture7.How to ask questions 8.What could be done differently within startups ?9.Australia vs International experience10.Help from big and small companies – get in touch with Misha & GrapevineFor more information, please visit:Ask The Grapevine: https://www.askthegrapevine.com/ Whispli: https://www.whispli.com/ 

“Plan your home loan and financial life to be portable,” says Gino Farina“A large part of my job is financial coach, but we use plenty of technology to help us”   In this episode we cover:1.     There are 19,000 mortgage brokers in Australia; they run their own business, and are paid by the banks/others when they write loans and recommend other products.2.     What does a mortgage broker do? Explanation of how brokers help clients, especially educating people about finance3.     Who are your customers? Individuals, couples, businesses4.     What are the key issues? Evaluation, decision making time5.     What tech do brokers use?  Equifax (credit reports), Connective (Mercury), Sales Tracker (CRM, Sales process), Monday (CRM), Cash Deck, My Prosperity and Yodlee (looking at clients cash flows, home loans, interest rates), Canstar, has reviewed Sherlok.6.     What is the bank loyalty tax? What could be done differently? Client engagement and financial advice is needed. There are 200 home loan providers in Australia, Commonwealth Bank has 25% market share.7.     Differences between business loan broking vs residential8.     What is churn and why do people move bank/provider every 7 years?9.     Message to fintechsYou can get in touch with Gino at The Bondi Broker:  https://bondibroker.com.au/  

Expanding access to home ownership: how Own Home is creating homeowners for the next generation of Australians James Bowe Co-Founder of Own Home. OwnHome’s mission is to turn renters into homeowners. James background includes over 7 years with Bain & Co in the USA, UK and Europe, and stints at UBS, Macquarie Bank, a Barrister’s assistant and a debating coach. https://ownhome.com/ The essence of OwnHome is a loan for your deposit - just 2.2% and Stamp Duty to secure a loan up to 100% of the property value.The example they give is Instead of saving $340K for a traditional 20% deposit on a median-priced home in Sydney, with a Deposit Boost Loan, aspiring Sydney homebuyers need roughly $60K, including stamp duty and typical upfront fees; customers can then access an 80% loan-to-value ratio loan from OwnHome’s list of lender partners.OwnHome raised a $3.6m seed round in July 2021 (from angel investors plus German based Global Founders Capital, and Israeli based Entrée Capital), and their initial product was a ‘rent to buy’ scheme where ownHome bought the house you, the buyer wanted, rented it to you for 3-7 years while you paid them back at a pre-agreed price - In 2022 they pivoted to the Deposit Boost Loan - raised a $31M series A from Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s venture arm, X15 Ventures, and as well as Square Peg Capital, Global Founders Capital, Entrée Capital, AfterWork Ventures, and Possible Ventures.OwnHome say they plan to support $500 million in home purchases over the next 18 months. In this episode, we discuss:·        Why did James start Own Home? (started with Rent-To-Own, then pivoted)·        What’s the key problem Own Home solves?·        Who are the customers?·        The fundraising journey; how hard is it?·        What’s the business model? Pricing?·        How do people repay the loan?·       What Partnerships are involved?·       Lending – why tier 2 lenders and not CBA?·       Team size?·        Long term vision?

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 

The FinTech Report Podcast: Episode 40: Anthony Baum, Founder & CEO, Tic:Tochttps://www.linkedin.com/in/anthony-baum-tictoc/Anthony is the founder and CEO of Tic:Toc, a fintech company who’s passion is making financial services smarter, faster and simpler. Anthony launched Tic:Toc in 2017 with a vision to change the way Australians select their home loan. Their proprietary technology enabled a world-first: a cheaper home loan with the ability to be delivered to customers, with a contract, in less than one hour from the time they started their application. Since then, they’ve learned to leverage their award-winning home loans business as a customer facing proving ground. Tic Toc now offers their technologies to the industry through partnerships (PaaS), licensing (SaaS) and APIs. Not just for home loans, but anywhere data can be used to improve the customer experience or better manage risk.Having run a division of a leading bank and with over 25 years of executive experience, Anthony’s philosophy is that technology should strip out as much time and cost as possible, to pass more benefits back to the customer. It's time to bring financial services up to speed.  In this interview we discuss:Tic Toc is now 6 years old – Anthony describes the journeyIs Tic:Toc a lender? Does Tic:Toc partner with a bank, or banks, for the finance?Partnerships and licensing – is that home loans as a service? Who does TicToc work with?What’s the benefit of CDR to Tic Toc?Opportunities for future products?  

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 

The FinTech Report Podcast: Joe Patrick at Astral Ventures Joe Patrick is the co-founder of Astral Ventures – a technology focussed corporate advisory firm based in Sydney, Australia. Astral has worked with some of Australia’s most exciting technology companies including Hivery, FrankieOne, ImmutableX, Spaceship and VC fund Blackbird Ventures, among many more. Astral Ventures is also the publisher of the ANZ VC Leaderboard which is a first of it’s kind initiative launched in February of this year. The VC Leaderboard enables founders to make more empowered decisions about whom to partner with - and for VCs to better understand how founders benchmark them against peers.Prior to founding Astral, Joe was an investment banker at JPMorgan. In this episode, we discuss:Joe’s finance background at JP MorganWhy the move to ventureWho are Astral Ventures? Track record, vision, missionHow Astral work with Founders and the early stage eco-systemRecent report – VC Leader board – grading the investorsMethodology: how do Founders ‘judge’ the investors?How can investors do better?Thoughts on the fintech funding eco-system: global macro trends, as well as local micro trends About Astral Ventures VC Leaderboard. 700 submissions from founders on 150 funds.With the data, Astral has created a founder NPS ranking tool - ranking the best VCs in the eyes of Australian and Kiwi founders. Astral decided to publish the top 25 funds, and have shown the remainder alphabetically. Astral’s intention is for founders to use this tool to make more empowered decisions about whom to partner with - and for VCs to better understand how founders benchmark them against peers.View the Astral Leaderboard report here: https://thelist.astralventures.com.au/ 

Trent McLaren, Founder, The Journeywww.letsjourney.com.au Trent’s just finished up a role with Weel (Previously DiviPay) as Head of Strategic Channels. Whilst Trent’s Officially hanging up the boots at Weel, his role there was an amazing roller coaster ride of growth and innovation and, like all startups, in a very short period of time.Trent worked with the co-founders as the team scaled from 15 to 55. Trent’s role in building partnerships to drive growth was and is key for Weel, and it’s a lesson that all startups need to understand. Trent was tasked with building and creating an accounting community that would help the business find new customers, increase brand awareness and create a team to help service the channel.A few key highlights from his time at WeelOnboarded over 600 accountants and bookkeepers into the Weel Partner Program (he had to build the program!)Over 1000 new clients were introduced to Weel through by their trusted advisor, through the Weel partner program.Trent Launched the new Weel brand at Xerocon as a platinum/event partner, where the team was described as everyone's new favourite app!This is a journey of rapid growth; and not everyone can achieve this type of growth – so we’ll explore that in this episode.In addition to being the Founder of Journey, a consultancy helping accounting tech platforms to grow and scale, Trent’s other new role is CEO of “From The Trenches” – which he describes as focused on "Real Life in Accounting", providing practical advice on things you need to know today in your role as an accountant or bookkeeper. From The Trenches is supported by a podcast, and online virtual accounting summits 

The FinTech Report Podcast: Episode 31; Kallan Hogan, Head of Business Development, Mastercard Australia & NZ  Key Points raised: Mastercard about connecting buyers and sellersMastercard is more than cards and payments; services also include: Digital ID, online fraud verification, biometrics technology, Ai that scores transactions for fraud, personalisation, loyalty etc Mastercard is a challenger, always looking to partner and create solutions; has global tech hub in Sydney/Australia, can do tech dev hereCase study: MX51Mastercard Global FinTech Accelerator program explained (Start Path, a 6 month intensive program)Mastercard working on bridge between Web2 and Web3 for payments; will use stablecoinsTrends to watch: Kallan mentions ESG, 5G/embedded finance, lending/risk models, banks moving off legacy tech, cloud/partnering with fintech as trends to watchMastercard growing: 90+ open positions in SydneyFinTechs can get in touch with Kalan here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kallanhogan/Kallan Hogan is the Head of Business Development for Mastercard Australia and NZ. In this role, he leads a team focused on making the connection between buyers and sellers more efficient in an ever-changing digital world.  He is responsible for creating client-led solutions across Mastercard technology including tokenisation, loyalty solutions, cybersecurity, open banking, personalisation, marketing, data analytics and other services. Prior to joining Mastercard, Kallan held multiple leadership roles at American Express and has experience driving brands across diverse regions having worked in Sydney, London, Singapore and Chicago. Mastercard has evolved from a payments company to an innovative technology and services provider focused on broader payment opportunities in the retail, technology, government and finance industries. In Australia, Mastercard is committed to enabling all stakeholders - issuers, acquirers, merchants and consumers - with the latest technology and services to connect and protect, safely and seamlessly. As one of the world’s leading payment network operators, Mastercard is widely known and trusted. Today, the company is enthusiastically harnessing the digital revolution as it seeks to accelerate innovations beyond payments using new technologies and capabilities. FinTechs can get in touch with Kalan here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kallanhogan/ 

The FinTech Report Podcast: Episode 30; Simon Burt, Head of Digital Customer Experience and Innovation, Newcastle Permanent Building SocietyKey Points:NPBS future is about Partnerships NPBS not trying to be a digital only bank, but wants to partner with fintechs to stay competitive and serve customers betterBank branches are now ‘digital classrooms’ for customersOpen Banking will change the bank-customer relationship for the betterData first approach for decision makingMerger provides scale, which allows bank to invest more in technologySimon Burt is Head of Digital Customer Experience and Innovation at Newcastle Permanent Building Society, a role he’s had for over 5 years. Simon has been with NPBS for over 15 and has worked across both branch banking as well as home loans. Prior to his 15 years with NPBS, he spent 10 years with American Express on the FX part of the business. NPBS provide financial services, including accounts, home and personal loans, debit and credit cards, and insurance, but are not a bank. They are a mutual building society; NPBS is owned by the customers, not by shareholders.Newcastle Permanent was established in 1903. They are regulated by the Banking Act 1959 (Cth), and supervised by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA). Their motto is: ‘Here for Good’.In November 2022, Newcastle Permanent and Greater Bank agreed to a merger. The merged organisation will have more than $20 billion in total assets and 600,000 customers, and benefit from almost 200 years of combined operating history.The new merged entity, will be called: Newcastle Greater Mutual Group Ltd In this interview we cover:Simon’s role at NGMG?Why NGMG?What is NGMG’s interest in fintech? What pain point do you solve for fintechs?Who are your potential customers? What is your ‘sweet spot’?How do you asses risk when dealing with fintechs? Expansion plans?Open Banking – benefit to fintechs & banks? Simon always keen to meet with fintechs looking to partner: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonburt2300/  

The Fintech Report Podcast: Episode 29; Cameron Dart, CEO & Founder, Australian FinTechGiving fintechs a voice is our key mission, says Dart Vision is to cover all major fintech markets Separate newsletters launched for PropTech and Blockchain FinTech India to launch in 2023 Cameron explains his background and what led him to start Australian FinTech; finance career kicked off with a merchant bank in London; then moved to Morgan Stanley in Sydney; then property development in Australia/Gold Coast.Started kids website (ebay for kids products); almost killed by arrival of GumTree and Facebook Marketplace – lots of lessons learnt on technology, disruption, timing etc – taught Cameron the risks involved in technology sector.Started next project with business partner who started Australia’s first online life insurance business.Huge interest in fintech, so started Australian FinTech – newsfeed, directory of companies; started with 60, now grown to over 1000 members. Cameron says there are 1400 fintechs in Australia. Now seven years old; keeps growing as industry grows.Daily newsletter covers all fintech; covers news on small startups to ASX/NASDAQ listed fintechs. “Give a voice to fintech companies,” is the key mission says CameronPublish approx. 1200 articles per year – 40,000 social media followers (30k on LinkedIn). Tuesday and Thursday newsletter goes to 5000 subscribers.Members get priority regarding news with links back to member websites. Audience has changed over time; also, Cameron also experienced how audience value news.Most disappointing aspect of fintech: failure of Xinja and Volt.Most promising aspect of fintechs; fintechs partnering to take on the big banksCameron discusses global expansion plans: tried ‘international fintech’ but it didn’t work – so Cameron built country specific websites for FinTech USA, UK and Ireland. “People only care about what’s in their backyard”Cameron just launched FinTech UAE: will add many more in the years ahead – especially India for 2023. Cameron surprised by how deep/big the Aussie fintech market is vs UK, USA etc (even given population numbers)“Australian FinTech is the stage on which Aussie fintechs can ‘go global’” says CameronGoing global also means Cameron can partner with various fintech events in markets like FinTech Week in UK.Cameron says he’d like to see the neo-banks grow and prosper; big banks have had a monopoly for so long, it needs to change. Cameron launched a Blockchain and Crypto site, as well as a PropTech news website