Application Exercise 8r: Financial services, technology and globalisation
- List five examples of fintech that you are aware of or have used recently.
- AfterPay (buy now, pay later services)
- BeforePay (receive salary/wages before pay day)
- EdStart (small scale loans to parents for private school fees)
- Kickstarter and Patreon (crowdfunding)
- UpBank and Zinja – digital-only neo-banks
- Wisr Round Up App – round up purchases and save the amount (for investment)
- Make a list of the potential benefits the increase of fintech may provide for small businesses and Australian consumers.
- Access to goods and services on demand (for consumers) – to enable them to purchase when they want, and pay later
- Reduced time spent completing financial transactions like banking (using online platforms instead)
- Lower fees than traditional banking for customers
- Lower transaction fees for small businesses
- For businesses, encourages consumers to buy – ease of payment with card (e.g. using smartphone-based payment systems)
- Small businesses can sell to customers globally, with low transaction costs
- Outline the potential economic costs to Australian industries where fintech is getting a foothold.
- Very low levels of regulation – unlike traditional banks which are highly regulated.
- Concerns about data privacy – and risk cyberattacks
No guarantee that information provided when using apps is stored safely, or not on sold to marketers and other big data harvesters.