Archive for The Better Banking Blog
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What if the Independent’s start calling the shots on banking?
One of the more interesting side effects of the global financial crisis is the development of a number of new banks around the world. The phenomenon hasn’t quite stretched to Australia, where post GFC we are still left with less banks, thanks to industry consolidation. Metro Bank launched in Ju...
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ANZ embraces mobile payments
ANZ has released an iPhone application that allows customers to send money to anyone with an Australian bank account using only their mobile phone number as an identifier. It is the first application launched by a major Australian bank that offers a "pay by mobile" function, which allows use...
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Fiserv launches ZashPay, paving the way for an Australian deployment
US online banking vendor Fiserv has officially launched its person-to-person mobile payments service known as ZashPay to American consumers, paving the way for an Australian bank deployment. ZashPay allows anyone to send and receive money (currently only in the US), using only the recipients name...
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Ex UBank staffers defect to Australia Post
Former UBank general manager Gerd Schenkel has joined the growing list of bankers being tapped by Australia Post chief Ahmed Fahour as he explores new revenue opportunities for the business. Schenkel, understood to be consulting to Australia Post, joins former NAB executives Andrew Maitland and M...
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PayPal head of mobile on the future of money
PayPal has been doing its bit this week to raise awareness of the growing online retail opportunity in Australia. It seems overseas competitors are currently taking around 40 per cent of Australia’s online spend – it’s the kind of statistic that should have Aussie online entrepreneurs rubbing ...
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Did ANZ open a new branch and forget to staff it?
Australian banks are running out of excuses for not serving customers via Twitter, following the establishment of verified Twitter accounts for the Commonwealth Bank and Westpac. The verified accounts go a long way towards ensuring customers communicating with a bank via Twitter can have confiden...
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Another senior departure at UBank
NAB direct banking arm UBank has shed another key staff member with the sudden departure of head of online Monty Hamilton. After 13 years with NAB, including 3 with UBank (since its inception under the Star Bank project), Hamilton will finish up on Friday. Hamilton’s departure comes on the back...
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Is hardware the future of mobile payments?
One of the less talked about features missing from the controversial iPhone 4, which was allegedly stolen from a bar and sold to a journalist in April, is the contactless capability many bankers have been waiting on. An examination of the photos of the iPhone 4 and its components finds no evidenc...
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Partnering with start-ups can pay for banks
“If banks were doing their job correctly there wouldn’t be a PayPal or a Mint” says Richard Aberman. In reality if banks made business accounts simpler there may not be a need for Aberman’s business WePay either, and he knows it. WePay is a start-up founded in 2008 to help groups colle...
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Gray restructures NAB personal banking division
National Australia Bank’s experiment with its direct banking businesses UBank, and its broker and adviser support business NAB Partnerships, is under question after the removal of a number of senior executives and a major restructure of its entire personal banking division, led by Lisa Gray. A ...
