• Skip to main content

Biz Builder Mike

You can't sail Today's boat on Yesterdays wind - Michael Noel

  • Cryptocurrency Exchange
  • Blockchain Consultants
  • About Us
  • Blog

Australia

Jan 03 2021

Open Banking: UK Fintechs have Asked FCA to Adopt a More Market-led Approach to Open Finance Services

Fintech companies are reportedly urging the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to “break” banks during 2021.

A group of London-based startups is asking the FCA to look into ending the control and dominance of traditional banking institutions, specifically their use of consumer data. The companies have stated that this move should increase healthy competition in key financial services such as savings, credit, mortgages and pensions.

The Coalition for a Digital Economy (Coadec), which serves as the policy voice of Fintech startups and other tech scaleups and reportedly includes former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair’s son Euan as one its board members, is recommending a more market-led approach to providing open finance services (somewhat like in Australia).

Coadec is calling on the FCA to put an end to what they consider to be an “overly-standardized” approach to offering these types of financial services.

The Coadec consortium notably includes Fintech Unicorn TransferWise and Seedrs. In statements shared with City A.M., the group suggested that the FCA needs to “break banks” and offer a more transparent open banking system. Specifically, the FCA should allow other providers (not just banks) to engage in platforms through which consumer data, user accounts and customer transactions are shared among various parties, the consortium recommended.

Joel Gladwin, Head of Policy at Coadec, noted that if Fintechs are provided more access to data this year, then it should increase competition in key services like savings, credit, mortgages and pensions.

Gladwin added:

“Banks were able to send armies of slick lobbyists and magic circle lawyers to Brussels to build extra barriers to Fintechs and maintain their gatekeeper roles.”

But if consumers are able to have greater control of their banking details and related information, then it could help increase trust, promote more engagement and empower activity, Gladwin claims.

He further noted:

“By granting consumers a new data sharing right, and encouraging a market of specialists to compete, banks will have very little room for maneuver this time. Ultimately, this will allow consumers to access better, and more tailored, financial services than they do currently.”

The Fintech companies stated that there has to be an end to bank charges on third-party firms for accessing their financial data. They also recommended removing the 90-day re-authentication requirements, which asks customers to re-authorize their banking provider to release their financial data for use by other parties.

According to Gladwin:

“It is an unnecessary barrier that is preventing consumers from accessing better financial services. As the Brexit transition nears, the Government will have greater flexibility to find a better solution.”

Source

Written by bizbuildermike · Categorized: Crowdfunding · Tagged: 2021, Australia, Banking, Banks, Brexit, circle, coadec, coalition for a digital economy, consumer protection, data, data-sharing, digital, economy, Europe, FCA, finance, financial conduct authority, financial data, financial services, fintech, fintech adoption, Global, government, information, joel gladwin, London, market, more, Mortgages, open banking, other, pensions, platforms, Politics, Legal & Regulation, seedrs, startups, tech, transferwise, uk, unicorn, united-kingdom

Dec 04 2020

A Day in the Life of Entrepreneur Sian Murray, Co-Founder of Pleasant State

Running your own business is no easy feat. It takes a healthy dose of passion, discipline, and commitment. Ever wonder what a day in the life of a small business owner and founder is like? We’re here to give you a glimpse!

This week, we’re featuring Sian Murray, the co-founder of Pleasant State. Pleasant State is a female-owned Australian business that wants to create a sparkling clean world free of single-use plastics. One garbage truck of plastic waste enters our oceans every minute, totaling eight million tons each year. Sian and her co-founder have created a line of all natural, concentrated, just-add-water cleaning products that let users clean their homes without plastic waste and harmful ingredients. 

Read on to learn about a typical day for Sian as she runs Pleasant State’s popular crowdfunding campaign. Then scroll down for a brief Q&A to get to know her better and get inspired!

Sian Murray (right) and her co-founder Ami Bateman.

5 A.M. – The sun rises at around 4.30 in summer here in Australia so it’s pretty hard to sleep in. My alarm normally goes off at 5.15 and after a few hits of the snooze button I’ll eventually climb out of bed. The first thing I do every morning is check the Pleasant State Instagram and Facebook for any new messages. I then check in on how our ads are performing and, of course, take a look at the surf cams. Then it’s straight into my swimmers, I throw my board in the back of the ute and go for a surf. There is honestly no better way to start your day. 

6 A.M. – Still surfing.

7 A.M. – I normally get home at around 7.30, have a shower, make myself a giant smoothie and have a piece of toast while sitting outside on my phone and catching up on any team comms that may have come through overnight. I’ll also look at what’s going on in the world and check in on other brands we love. 

8 A.M. – If I really have my life together, I’ll make time for a 10 min stretch/ light yoga before I head to my desk just to prevent getting sore while I sit at a computer all day. But most of the time, as I work from home, I just turn on the Bluetooth speakers and head straight to my desk. (I love to work with loud music — I’m not sure my housemates love it, though).  

9 A.M. – The Pleasant State team all work remotely, so we rely heavily on tools like Slack and Asana to communicate and manage our projects together. Ami Bateman (my fellow co-founder) lives just half an hour away so we catch up a couple of times a week. But most days, we work separately — though I can’t wait until we have our own space to work together. I generally spend the first hour of my day on community management, emails and reviewing our ads in more detail. 

10 A.M. – I manage the majority of Marketing here at Pleasant State. We’re a very small team so this means I work on strategy with the team but then have to implement the bulk of those deliverables on my own. I like to put aside an hour each day to create social content, engage with our customers and create Instagram stories as our customers love that ‘face-to-face’ contact. 

Pleasant State reduces plastic waste by making super concentrated, just-add-water cleaning products.

11 A.M. – As we’re in the InDemand phase of our Indiegogo campaign and our product is due to arrive in just a couple of months we’re also doing a lot of planning for our product launch. No two days are the same! Today I’m working with our Graphic Design Intern to finalise the design of our mailer boxes and A6 comp cards that will go inside each box. 

12 P.M. – As Pleasant State grows, we’ve been lucky enough to receive some awesome opportunities for events, media interviews, and features so I will usually take an hour to write back to inquiries or prepare my responses. Today, for example, I am writing this interview. 🙂

1 P.M. – Lunch time! Yum! (I live for food). Today I’m having honey soy tofu in a vermicelli noodle salad. My housemates have a new puppy so I will normally take 30 minutes to go outside with him, eat my lunch and have a little run around. 

2 P.M. – This is usually when I look at my list of things to do and say, “Oh dear.” Which means I often take a minute after lunch to reassess my timings and make sure I’m on track for the rest of the day. Today I’m creating a brief for our Graphic Design Intern that will cover all design elements of our upcoming Christmas campaign. This means I will need to have the strategy mapped out, the copy written and the channels selected, plus give her design guidance for the whole campaign so she can format it nicely and I can then schedule it into all our channels. This includes things like email, social posts, ad content, website updates etc.  

3 P.M. – The above job is quite a big one so I’ll still be pulling all this information together for our amazing intern. 

Sian hard at work on Pleasant State

4 P.M. It’s been a few hours since I’ve checked in on community management. Our audience is pretty active so it’s important to check it regularly. Part of our current planning phase as we transition from crowdfunding to product launch is ensuring brand consistency throughout all our channels, so today I’ll be looking at our Instagram and Facebook bios to ensure they are aligned with our key messaging. 

5 P.M. – I’m very big on work life balance so don’t like to go overtime too much, but today is a big day as we head into the weekend. I like to make sure I’ve ticked off everything on my list before I finish. Pleasant State has been lucky enough to have a Facebook rep providing us with support across our ads lately so after a phone call with them yesterday I’ll make some of the changes they recommended to finish off the day. Conversion ads have been a huge revenue driver for us so it’s important they’re constantly optimised. 

6 P.M. – It is so hot here during the day, we don’t have an air conditioner so I’ll usually finish off work by grabbing a beer and quickly running down to the beach for a sunset swim to cool off. We’re very lucky to live walking distance to the beach, even though it can also be a bit distracting. 

Sian and Ami, the Pleasant State co-founders, celebrating their Indiegogo campaign.

7 P.M. – Well what do you know, it’s food time again! Today’s Friday which means I’m heading out with my partner and friends. My Friday night classic is a fancy pizza accompanied by a couple of margaritas. Now that’s living. 

8 P.M. – On to my second margarita.

9 P.M. – Who knows — depending on my mood, there might be a third, haha! But I have a bit of work to do this weekend so it’s home and an early night for me. 

10 P.M. – Last check over socials to make sure all is well in the world of Pleasant State and then I’m off to sleep.

11 P.M. Can’t talk, sleeping. 🙂

How and why did you become an entrepreneur? Was it something you always intended for yourself?

I always said, “I want to own my own business, but I don’t know what it will be.” I suppose that’s the beauty of it: You just have to open yourself up to the possibility. One day the opportunity will present itself and it’s up to you to jump at it. For me, that opportunity was Pleasant State. To be honest, though, it definitely wasn’t a chance encounter that led Ami and Pleasant State to me. I studied Journalism and Professional Communication because I wanted to launch my own magazine, which I ended up doing straight out of university. But once I realised a magazine wasn’t going to do it for me, I put a lot of effort into upskilling in digital marketing. I knew it would be a huge asset when it came to launching my own business again, which it definitely has been. Years of working in a digital agency and building my own personal brand led Ami to me so I wouldn’t have been presented with this opportunity without the ground work. 

Sian attacking plastic waste on the beach, and with good reason: 8 trillion tons of plastic waste end up in the ocean every year.

What makes your Indiegogo project unique?

I love this question! There are so many things that make our project unique. I feel that crowdfunding in general isn’t as common in Australia as it is in places like the UK and US, so the fact that we went down this route for funding in Australia is quite unique in itself. More broadly, we’re a female-founded start-up based in a small town on Australia’s Sunshine Coast. We’ve worked really hard to not take on investors and ensure that in all aspects of our business we are putting people and the planet before profits. At the end of the day, Pleasant State is and will be more than just a cleaning brand. We’re here to demonstrate that doing good is good for business. I would also say that our general energy makes our project unique. We have put so much time and effort into building Pleasant State from the ground up — so much research, so much creativity and so much face-to-face contact to build a relatable, honest brand that brings hope to our customers. Oh, and our crowdfunding video is a beauty. 😉

What’s your biggest piece of advice for women who want to start their own business?

Always remember that you are enough and that you’ve 100% got this. Even when you don’t have it, just know that if you believe in the back of your mind you can get it done, you will. Ami and I often laugh about how out of our depth we’ve been with certain elements of launching Pleasant State. We’ve never designed products or worked with manufacturers, and I barely even knew the meaning of most business Jargon (which can feel super embarrassing sometimes). But don’t be hard on yourself and don’t hold back from asking for help. Don’t know the answer? Just ask! It’s something I have really struggled with, but I’m working on. 

Sian and Ami packaging up Pleasant State perks.

What tools (gadgets, apps, books, podcasts) would you recommend to anyone starting their own business, crowdfunding campaign, or project?

The most important tool is happiness! The start-up world is filled with people telling you that you need to work all hours of the day to be successful. That’s just not true, nor is it healthy! Make time for you. But as for podcasts, there are a few really interesting ones that I enjoy. I really like some of the interviews they do on Female Startup Club and Business Chicks. As a digital marketer, I spend a crazy amount of time on socials so unfortunately I don’t find the time to read enough. But I would 100% recommend finding brands and businesses that you admire and following them religiously. Stuck for an idea? Why not see how they communicated it? Taking inspiration from other amazing brands and making it your own is a huge help when you have a small team. Just make sure you’re not just copying other brands. The key is to find new ideas and then think about how you can make them your own or even better! In terms of gadgets, Loomly has been great for all our scheduling, Asana for team management and, of course, playing loud music to get me through it all!

What’s your favorite Indiegogo campaign, or a campaign you’ve recently supported?

I’m not sure I have a favourite but there were definitely a few that inspired me in a big way throughout our initial campaign. Like I said in my previous response, I’m big on taking inspiration from those around me and for us that was Hitch. I loved their video and the way they set up their story. It was genius! And, of course, back here in Australia I loved the campaign by Who Gives A Crap, their tone of voice and video just got me. It was definitely the inspiration for the comedic relief in our campaign.

Want to support Pleasant State? Check out the crowdfunding campaign today, or explore their website, Instagram and Facebook to learn more!

<!–

Comments are closed

–>

Source

Written by bizbuildermike · Categorized: Crowdfunding · Tagged: a day in the life, ads, amazing, Apps, Australia, Beauty, Beer, Behind The Scenes, books, brands, business, Businesses, Christmas, Co-founder, Community, Crowdfunding, Design, digital, digital marketing, driver, email, energy, entrepreneur, events, Facebook, Food, founder, funding, gadgets, Go, ideas, IGG, information, instagram, interview, LINE, marketing, Media, music, other, pizza, product, Products, research, revenue, slack, small-business, social, Space, startup, story, Strategy, Success Stories, Sun, supported, truck, uk, upskilling, us, video, work, world, yoga

Nov 27 2020

Bahrain and Saudi Capital of Riyadh Named as Top Fintech Ecosystems to Watch Closely: Report

The Kingdom of Bahrain and Saudi Arabia’s capital city Riyadh were recently chosen as the top Fintech ecosystems to watch closely, according to a report from research organization Startup Genome.

The researchers at Startup Genome analyzed the economies and deal activities of several different countries. The research team has prepared their report after carefully looking at factors such as funding, exits, talent, focus, and key ecosystem participants such as company founders and policymakers.

Bahrain and Riyadh were notably the only two GCC members that were named in the report as Fintech markets to keep an eye on, along with Japanese capital city Tokyo, Melbourne in Australia, Frankfurt in Germany, and Cairo in Egypt.

Some of the main benefits offered by these fast-growing Fintech hubs included wage subsidy programs from Bahrain’s Labor Fund (Tamkeen). This fund offers a liberal 0% corporate and personal tax scheme along with the Bahrain government’s $11.3 billion Coronavirus stimulus relief package to support local business during these unprecedented times.

As mentioned in the report, the Saudi capital of Riyadh has been focused on the fast-growing digital commerce space. It’s supported by a tech savvy population and a rapidly evolving logistics industry, which has resulted in Riyadh being listed as a Fintech ecosystem to watch closely in the coming years.

The report states:

“Bahrain ranks first in the MENA region and second globally in terms of Islamic finance regulation according to the Global Islamic Finance Report thanks to its standards on crowdfunding and Open Banking. The Bahraini government has reduced capital startup requirements from $50,000 to $100 for some businesses and introduced a regulatory ‘sandbox’ for Fintech.”

The report from Startup Genome also mentioned that Bahrain, Riyadh, Abu Dhabi and Dubai were named as the top Fintech markets in the Middle East region.

Dr. Ebrahim Janahi, CEO at Labor Fund Tamkeen, stated that Bahrain has managed to establish itself as a fast-growing Fintech hub. He added that within a short period of time, the country has built on its track record as a financial centre, and has adopted progressive regulations. Dr. Janahi also said that Bahrain remains committed to “nurturing new talent for this innovative sector.”

Dalal Buhejji, Director of Business Development for Financial Services at Bahrain Economic Development Board, remarked:

“Our ranking as one of the top Fintech ecosystems to watch is testament to Team Bahrain’s years of hard work building an environment that empowers firms of all sizes to rapidly bring new ideas to market. Our financial services sector is one of the most established in the Gulf region, and we have capitalized on that expertise to enable a shift towards digitalisation – something that has been of particular interest among traditional financial institutions during the global pandemic.”

Bahrain’s Labor Fund Tamkeen is a key source of government funding, which includes financial grants and subsidies. Tamkeen is an important part of Bahrain’s support structure for early-stage firms and includes Startup Bahrain, a community-backed project, local angel networks such as Tenmou, accelerators like Flat6Labs and BRINC, VCs such as Middle East Venture Partners and 500 Start-ups. There’s also a $100 million Fund of Funds, called Al Waha.

Source

Written by bizbuildermike · Categorized: Crowdfunding · Tagged: Asia, Australia, bahrain, bahrain economic development board, Banking, business, Businesses, CENTRE, ceo, company, coronavirus, Crowdfunding, dalal buhejji, digital, digital commerce, dr. ebrahim janahi, Economic Development, Egypt, Environment, finance, financial services, fintech, fintech adoption, founders, Frankfurt, fund, funding, Germany, Global, government, ideas, Labor, labor fund tamkeen, Logistics, market, markets, mena, mena region, Middle East, pandemic, Regulation, report, research, Research Report, saudi arabia, Space, startup, startup genome, supported, tech, Tokyo, work

Nov 26 2020

TransferWise Customers in Indonesia Can Now Send Remittance Payments to 80 Different Countries

Fintech firm TransferWise recently announced that Indonesians and ex-pat workers will now be able to send money from Indonesia to 80 different countries, which includes Australia, Singapore, Japan, US, UK, China (Alipay) — and across Europe as well.

TransferWise users are now able to send funds from their Android or iOS app, or via the web.

More than 90% of Indonesian residents say they find the high cost of remittances to be “a source of stress,” TransferWise reports. However, they’re now able to send funds from Indonesia for around 2.5x cheaper when compared to the rates offered by major banks and non-banks, TransferWise claims.

The Fintech firm noted:

“Since the start of our beta a few months ago, we’ve onboarded thousands of users. Their feedback has helped us improve the experience for you.”

According to the leading money transfer service provider, Indonesians are now using TransferWise because it’s significantly cheaper than other available options in the country. Transfers made via the Fintech firm’s platform are also faster, with half of the transactions arriving “within an hour,” the company claims.

Some other benefits of using TransferWise are that it’s truly global since users can send money to 80 different countries. The service is also relatively easy-to-use since there’s no need to leave your home or office. TransferWise also claims that users can enjoy greater transparency as they get the “real” exchange rate — “like the one you see on Google.”

(Note: for more details on these payment options, check here.)

TransferWise claims that banks have been “dodging” the rules again. In April of this year, the European Union introduced legislation requiring banks and funds transfer service providers to show the true or actual cost of sending money abroad. TransferWise reveals that banks might be trying to hide certain fees “behind their small print, during a global pandemic.”

TransferWise points out that after the introduction of the Cross-Border Payments Regulation (CBPR2), banks and transfer providers tried to hide extra fees or might not have been transparent enough with how they charge customers.

TransferWise notes that the new regulation has an Article 3b, point 2:

“prior to the initiation of a payment transaction, the payment service provider shall communicate to the payer, in a clear, neutral and comprehensible manner, the estimated total amount of the credit transfer in the currency of the payer’s account, including any transaction fee and any currency conversion charges.”

TransferWise goes on to give an example where someone tries to send £1,000 to France with our bank. They might say that the “upfront” fee for cross-border transfer is £10. However, most banks and Western Union reportedly have an additional “markup” to the actual exchange rate.

For instance, if the mid-market rate is £1 = €1.20, the bank might apply a markup so that £1 = €1.10. So when a customer transfers £1,000 to France, they’d lose around €100. And that doesn’t even include the £10 fee.

The Fintech firm claims that if you want to be sure you get the “mid-market” rate — like the one on Google, Bloomberg or Reuters — you’d “have to use” TransferWise.

Source

Written by bizbuildermike · Categorized: Crowdfunding · Tagged: android, article, Asia, Australia, Banks, china, company, cross-border payments, Currency, digital transactions, Europe, European Union, exchange, fintech, Global, Google, Indonesia, international payments, iOS, japan, legislation, money, note, other, pandemic, payment, payments, Regulation, remittance payments, Remittances, Singapore, Southeast Asia, transaction, transfers, transferwise, uk, united-kingdom, us

Nov 17 2020

Charged Aussie Bitconnect promoter faces up to 47 years in prison

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission, or ASIC, has charged the former Australian national representative of BitConnect for his involvement in the multi-billion-dollar crypto Ponzi scheme.

According to a Nov. 17 statement from the ASIC, the commission — with assistance from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation — has charged John Louis Anthony Bigatton for his role working for BitConnect from August 2017 through January 2018.

He faces four courts of making misleading or false statements that had an influence on market participation, one count of operating an unregistered managed investment scheme, and one count of providing unlicensed financial services.

Each charge concerning making false statements can carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison with the other two charges carry penalties of up to 5 and 2 years, respectively. This means the BitConnect promoter, age 52, could potentially be looking at a life sentence.

In September, ASIC banned Bigatton from providing financial services for seven years, stating he was “not adequately trained, or is not competent, to provide a financial service or financial services.”

Bitconnect was one of the biggest and most notorious Ponzi schemes in the crypto space. The project duped thousands of people into investing by offering unrealistically high returns on lending using its native token. The lending platform collected roughly $2.5 billion before shutting down in January 2018 in response to a cease-and-desist order from the Texas State Securities Board.

The investigation into Bigatton’s involvement in the scheme also began in 2018, when the Federal Court of Australia froze his assets and placed travel restrictions on the Australian national. Biggaton purportedly earned up to $100,000 through his role in the Bitconnect scam.

Biggaton’s case will return to court on February 2. Authorities are also reportedly opening an unrelated investigation into the disappearance of his wife, who vanished in March 2018.

Charged Aussie Bitconnect promoter faces up to 47 years in prison

Source

Written by bizbuildermike · Categorized: cryptocurrency · Tagged: 2017, Australia, bitconnect, Court, Crime, crypto, Federal Bureau of Investigation, financial services, Investing, investment, Investments, Law, lending, market, other, ponzi, Ponzi scheme, Regulation, return, returns, scam, Space, Texas, token, travel, u.s.

  • Go to page 1
  • Go to page 2
  • Go to page 3
  • Go to Next Page »

Copyright © 2021 · Altitude Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in