Fintech all talk no action in bank competition race
Australia's banking sector is one of the most highly concentrated in the world and the much-hyped arrival of digital disruption has hardly shifted the dial.
More competition is not the solution to the housing affordability crisis, but there is no doubt it would benefit consumers.
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chairman Rod Sims says the impact of fintech on the banking industry has been a big disappointment. "There has been a lot of talk, but not much really happening ... let's hope something does," Sims told The Australian Financial Review Banking and Wealth summit.
Read the full article in the Australian Financial Review
Despite the trust backlash against big financial institutions, the majority of Australians continue to bank with the big four. This is partly because the barriers of entry for new competitors are high, but also because many customers are just too lazy or afraid to make the switch to a lender they do not know much about.
Amid all this criticism, the good news is that fintechs startups may struggle with changing the costly habits Australians when it comes to the big banks, the fintech revolution is outing the big banks as costly, slow and opaque in their practices.
When it comes to sending payments internationally, one such disruptor is Flash Payments, a state of the art foreign exchange transfer payment provider.
This Australian startup was designed from the ground up to outperform traditional financial institutions by providing fast, secure and very affordable foreign exchange conversion services as an alternative to the existing opaque, siloed and inefficient banking networks. And it does so without the hidden fees typically imposed by the banks.
Using the innovative Ripple technology platform and XRP, Ripple's digital currency, Flash Payments delivers extraordinary transparency, speed and transactional control to users, setting a new level of service standard.
At Flash Payments we enable users to select the transfer date; pick the rate; send funds like an email; track transfers like a package; all without any surprise charges. There are none.
This is in stark contrast to the banks, where global payments cost more, take more time, and the routeing is opaque.
So, whether you are a business or an individual you can now skip the banks and take control of your foreign exchange transfers.
Learn more about Flash Payments and sign-up to benefit from their cutting-edge technology, great rates, transparency and control.