finder fintech roundup: Fintech investment, APIs and the Global Fintech Hubs Federation
The banks are looking towards open APIs while investment funds and global federations benefit hubs and startups.
Here's what happened in the Australian fintech space this week:
The Global Fintech Hubs Federation
An international fintech organisation has been launched this week to foster innovation and collaboration with fintech hubs globally. The Global Fintech Hubs Federation (GFHF) is the brainchild of Innovate Finance, a member association representing fintech globally, and SWIFT Innotribe, another global fintech platform.
So far, two Australian fintech hubs have joined the international organisation: Stone & Chalk and Fintech Australia.
ANZ is moving towards open APIs
ANZ has become the first of the Big Four to design a system with the intention of letting external organisations access its data. Three of the Big Four banks, including ANZ, have pushed back on an impending Productivity Commission report on "Data Availability and Use" that would allow private organisations, most notably those in the fintech space, to access the bank's data.
Westpac was the only bank to take a more relaxed approach to the push for open APIs and has also launched its own data management platform, Databank, which focuses on company data.
Australia gets its first listed fintech investment fund
H2Ocean, started by brothers Ben and Tony Heap of fintech accelerator H2 Ventures, has launched as Australia's first listed fintech investment fund. The Heap brothers posted a letter to potential investors on the H2Ocean website that details the fund's aims to raise between $22,500,000 and $55,000,000. The company has an impressive list of directors – David Koch, Beyond Bank chair Anne O'Donnell and former Assistant Innovation Minister Wyatt Roy – who, along with the company, will aim to deliver capital growth to the company's investors while providing an alternative investment opportunity.
The finder fintech roundup is a summary of the news in fintech from the past week. Check back every Friday to catch up.
Do you know anything about UNO? where we get to broker our own home loans?
Hi Luciana,
I wasn’t aware of this but have sent it to our home loans team – thanks for letting us know!
Cheers,
Elizabeth