Mercer actuary David Knox says the data used to determine the old age dependency ratio is “totally out of date” and overstates the severity of the problem.
From their inception, SMSFs have always attracted more than their fair share of criticism. Now it’s an ageing membership that’s being used to restrict their numbers.
Volt joins forces with BTC Markets
Neobank Volt has joined forces with cryptocurrency exchange BTC Markets (BTCM) to offer its banking services to its investors. It is the first partnership of its kind in Australia where a neobank and a cryptocurrency exchange have joined forces. It comes after the traditional Australian banks were accused of “de-banking” cryptocurrency operators, by denying them core banking services.
The move will ensure cryptocurrency customers will receive greater speed, stability, and confidence when investing in digital assets, facilitated by Volt’s banking-as-a-service (BaaS) platform.
Andrew Clouston, Volt’s chief customer & partnerships officer, says: “We are excited to team-up with another homegrown Australian fintech pioneer. BTC Markets was one of the first and remains one of the largest and most trusted digital currency exchanges in Australia. This partnership will enable BTCM to stay at the forefront of a rapidly-growing industry.”
The joint venture between the two will initially focus on providing a corporate cash management account with real-time notifications and payment automation for investors. Following this, BTCM will allow its investors to open a Volt bank account, providing full access to full trading experience with proper bank-grade security.
“We’ve been particularly interested to see digital currencies grow in popularity, credibility, and security over the past few years,” says Clouston. “We believe BTC Markets and Volt are primed to deliver safe and secure banking access to support Australians seeking to trade in digital assets.”
What this will mean is that instead of waiting days for transfers to clear through a third-party bank, BTCM customers will use their own Volt account within the BTCM environment.
“The partnership demonstrates how BaaS can provide much-needed innovation and access to banking solutions for fintechs and their customers, and improve competition in Australian banking,” highlights Clouston.
“As Volt continues to scale with BaaS partners such as Railspay, AFG, Australian Mortgage, and QPay, we’re seeing rapidly-growing demand for scalable banking solutions that can be delivered seamlessly within the ecosystem of fintechs. Businesses are increasingly seeking to deepen the relationship with their customers, and remove friction in processing payments,” he says.
Caroline Bowler, BTCM CEO, says: “This partnership will allow BTC Markets to offer its customers even greater increases to speed, stability, and confidence when transferring funds. Increased speed will result from our customers gaining almost instant access to Australian dollars for trades through native and integrated banking solutions such as bank accounts.”
“Both of these factors will generate customer confidence that their funds are in place and available, and that they will be able to time the market far more easily – which is absolutely critical in such a dynamic industry as crypto,” Bowler says.
Roughly 13 per cent of Australians own cryptocurrencies, according to February 2021 BTCM research. BTCM says it has 325,000 Australian customers that have so far traded $17.1 billion worth of digital assets.
