Australia’s growing financial technology (or ‘fintech’) sector has continued to gather pace even amid a global pandemic, according to the latest EY FinTech Census.

Some fintech leaders even suspect the pandemic – which forced businesses and individuals to digitalise their lives at an accelerated rate – will drive faster adoption of their services.

Others predict Australia’s recently introduced ‘Open Banking Legislation’, designed to give bank customers control of any data collected by financial institutions, will also help them attract more customers.

At the same time many fintech companies reported being worried major banks will shift their focus away from innovation in the year ahead and slow the progress being made by innovative fintech companies.

Even so, appetite to collaborate remains in both the banking and fintech sectors, despite the challenges integrating these innovative new banking services with well-established banking infrastructure.

It’s within this environment that listed banking-as-a-service (BaaS) company Change Financial (ASX: CCA) operates their financial technology platform.

“The company provides a “neat middle layer” between licensed banks and fintech businesses looking to provide customers with innovative new services”, company chair Ben Harrison told the attendees of Reach Market’s fortnightly ‘The Insider’ webcast.

“The problem [the banks] have is that they can’t innovate quickly enough to be relevant in today’s accelerated payments market,” he said.

“We help facilitate those brands and those fintechs with bringing those banking solutions to life.”

Change Financial currently operates across 36 countries, serving more than 120 customers across a broad range of sub-segments.

The company recently won its bid to acquire global payments provider Wirecard’s Australian and New Zealand subsidiaries for $7.8 million – adding more currencies and five new card networks to the company’s operations.

Mr Harrison recently joined us for our fortnightly webcast ‘The Insider’. This article summarises some of the information he shared with us during the session. You can watch a full recording below, or you can click here to book into our next session where we will be joined by PlaySide Studios, Nusantara Resources (ASX:NUS) and Nickel Mines (ASX:NIC).

‘The Insider’ is a great way to hear directly from the CEOs of fast growing Australian businesses. You will get valuable insights to their industries and companies future prospects.

The Insider – Event Details: Date: Wednesday, 2nd December Time:  12 pm AEDT Format: Online, 3 x 15 minute presentations

This is a free event. Click here to book your spot.

Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance.

Reach Markets have been engaged by PlaySide and NUS to help manage their investor communications.

Sources:

• EY FinTech Australia Census 2020
• How Australian fintechs are planning to emerge stronger from the crisis
• Top-heavy bank sector holds back FinTech potential
• Change Financial wins bid to acquire Australian and NZ subsidiaries from fallen Wirecard AG empire