Digital Finance Analytics (DFA) Blog
"Intelligent Insight"
Recent volatile stock market movements are in reaction to the fear that central banks will begin to tighten monetary policy. Much attention is on the Federal Reserve. So, a significant speech from Fed Governor Lael Brainard is worth noting. She spoke at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, Chicago, Illinois and outlined five factors in “the … Continue reading “The “New Normal” and US Rates”
From The UK Conversation. Another day, another tax headline. This week, it’s Apple, which faces a €13 billion (£11bn) tax bill in Ireland from the EU. Everyone says there must be a better way to make business pay its way. I support boosting the tax take, too, though not by punishing companies. Earlier this year, … Continue reading “How to ditch corporation tax and grow government income at the same time”
From The Conversation. Contactless card payments are fast and convenient, but convenience comes at a price: they are vulnerable to fraud. Some of these vulnerabilities are unique to contactless payment cards, and others are shared with the Chip and PIN cards – those that must be plugged into a card reader – upon which they’re … Continue reading “How contactless cards are still vulnerable to relay attack”
From The Conversation. More than 20 years after the first web server started bringing the internet into our lives, a recent conference in San Francisco brought together some of its creators to discuss its future. The general tone of the conference is probably best summed up by the Electronic Frontiers Foundation’sCory Doctorow: In the last … Continue reading “What’s wrong with the web and do we need to fix it?”
From The Conversation. This week the Productivity Commission released an issues paper as part of an inquiry into the adequacy of Australia’s Universal Service Obligation (USO) for telecommunications, in light of changes in technology and demand. The USO was formulated in a different age when the internet was in its infancy. Today, its requirement to … Continue reading “Will Australia’s digital divide – fast for the city, slow in the country – ever be bridged?”
An article published today in the NZ Reserve Bank Bulletin explores the potential effects of digital disruption to banks and broader financial system stability. Consumers now expect the same seamless digital services from banks as they receive from other industries. Hence, the banking industry is being ‘digitally disrupted’ as banks and technology firms race to … Continue reading “RBNZ Does Digital Banking Disruption”
From Australian Broker. Traditional banks will not be toppled by disruption from fintech players, an executive director of Macquarie Bank has said. Speaking at the AltFi Australasian Summit held in Sydney this week, Macquarie Bank executive director, head of corporate development & strategy, Ben Perham, said major tech companies are certainly driving innovation, but they … Continue reading “Fintech players will not topple big banks, says bank executive”
Recent media coverage about mortgage brokers has been quite negative, with allegations of poor ethical standards and false application data being used by some to bolster loan applications. So in this post and in our latest video blog we look at data from our household surveys to portray the current state of play. To begin, … Continue reading “The Truth About Mortgage Brokers”
From The Conversation. Australia’s quest to develop a stronger innovation ecosystem has seen a growing focus on the income tax system, and whether it should be used as a lever to help achieve this goal. Some have argued the government should not use tax incentives to spur the shifts needed to make Australia an innovation … Continue reading “The tax system can play a role in Australian innovation”
From The Conversation. Australian e-government is a long way behind many other developed nations. Our national leadership has utterly failed to comprehend why e-government should have been a national priority decades ago, and continues to offer little in the way of policy direction. Hence, our current solutions are a bizarre mish-mash of inconsistent approaches, making … Continue reading “It’s time for an eAustralia Card”