What happened to the Cashless Society?

ATM cash withdrawals are trending up and there’s more cash on issue than ever before. New data from the Reserve Bank of Australia reveals the number of ATM cash withdrawals is trending up in 2022. The value of cash withdrawals is stable, indicating that cash is being withdrawn for daily use, not for hoarding. RBA data also shows the total amount of cash on

Afterpay Day: You’re paying for it

Afterpay Day is a promotion of buy now pay later debt running from Thursday 17th to the 20th March. Consumers can win prizes, get discounts or exclusive ‘drops’ if they choose to BNPL debt rather than paying outright for purchases. Afterpay and other BNPL lenders charge retailers 4 per cent (or more) and ban them from recovering the fee from consumers. Yesterday, the Buy

Young people discover cash and hashtag it

#CashStuffing and #100EnvelopeChallenge showcase young people rediscovering cash Wednesday 23 February 2022: Young people and students in Australia, New Zealand and globally are rediscovering cash – and hash tagging it.  Controlling their budget and saving for goals are the key reasons why increasing numbers of young people are rejecting phone, card and Buy Now Pay Later payments apps to use cash.

Slavery – Which companies score badly on modern slavery disclosure?

Some companies score really well when it comes to managing and reporting on the risks that their products may have been made or partly produced by slaves and some score really badly. The massive differences between the high and low scores on this index is perhaps the biggest surprise. Australia’s Modern Slavery Act (2018) requires Australian companies with annual revenue

Fintech success stories – rare like unicorns

Angel investor Aileen Lee coined the term “unicorn” in 2013 to describe a privately held start-up that reaches a billion-dollar valuation. They are so rare – mythological – they are called unicorns. This paper reviews the current fintech investment landscape in Australia and compares the outlook for fintech ventures with established financial business models. There are more than 733 recognised

Government review of payments finds cash is critical to economy

It was supposed to be all about new technology like cards, phones, online commerce, crypto and digital currencies but the government’s Payments System Review made a surprising finding. Cash is critical to the economy and must be protected. Yesterday, treasurer Josh Frydenberg released the long-awaited Payments System Review which investigated how Australia’s payment system is run and governed. The review recognises that non-cash

Do child custody / access arrangements continue in lockdown?

Most of NSW and Melbourne are in lockdown now. During lockdown, should children still continue with regular access visits to their father (or mother)? As a general rule-of-thumb, the less travelling around the community we do, the better. But fathers want to see their kids and mums want to know what the rules are around lockdowns and child access. Of

Government must get tough on Online Gambling

The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services is holding hearings on Friday 13 August 2021 into the use of credit cards to pay for online gambling. Committee Chair, Andrew Wallace MP has expressed his concern about the “cost consequences” on families from allowing the use of credit cards and digital wallets to fund online gambling. These concerns are shared by many submissions to the

Missing Meals to pay off BUY NOW PAY LATER debts

Buy Now Pay Later users are missing meals and essentials to pay their debts, more government data has confirmed. Services like Afterpay, ZipCo, Humm, LayBuy and others are leading young people (in particular) into financial hardship, despite not being classified as credit providers. There are reportedly 9.1 million active BNPL accounts in Australia. 21% of BNPL users rack up late fees, ASIC has reported while 20%

Cash – Don’t leave home without it

When I have cash in my pocket, I’m in charge. Don’t leave home without it.