The finding comes as part of a new report launched by economics, research and analysis firm Mandala in partnership with FinTech Australia, compiled using fresh research into small business and analysis of ABS data.

It serves as FinTech Australia’s first major report into the tangible impact the industry is having both on the country’s economy and business across Australia.

Of the $9 billion in net benefits, $8 billion has come from increased revenues by adopting the services, and $1 billion from reducing costs. Over 30% of businesses reported growth of over 2.5% after adopting a fintech payment solution.

In terms of their overall adoption, over half (56%) of small businesses leverage a fintech provider for in-person transactions.  Meanwhile, a similar number (57%) of regional small businesses also leverage fintech payments solutions for payments over their major bank counterparts.

Rehan D’Almeida, CEO, FinTech Australia said: “This report finally quantifies the power of fintech to transform our economy.”

“We frequently hear that small business is the engine room of the Australian economy. Well, fintech is fuelling that engine room and directly contributing to its growth.”

“Through adopting new payment technologies, small businesses are not only reducing costs, which is what we expected, but are also growing their revenue. Its impact isn’t fully realised either, with only half of Australian small businesses leveraging these fintech solutions.

“With support, we can see fintech supercharge more areas of the small business ecosystem, further growing overall revenues and reducing costs.”

In addition to measuring its impact, the report also noted the key factors holding back broader fintech payment adoption: namely businesses’ concerns about perceived operational cost, security and privacy.

D’Almeida added: “In many instances, fintech solutions are safer and more operationally efficient than their counterparts. The data indicates that our key challenge for further growth is educating the broader SMB market.”

The report launches amid the RBA’s review of surcharging, where various data points from the Mandala report formed the basis for FinTech Australia’s submission.

“While the surcharging model isn’t perfect, small businesses have built their businesses around these surcharging rules for two decades and would be disproportionately impacted by a ban.” D’Almeida said.

“We want to help the government get the balance right, and help make other digital surcharge-free methods of payment available to consumers. The surface-level solution of banning surcharging would be a heavy blow to small businesses, have knock-on effects for consumers, and undo the benefits the fintech sector is providing the overall economy.”

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Brad Kitschke and Stuart Stoyan

The head of a trail-blazing energy financing startup – which last month secured $18.5 million in additional funding – has been named Australia’s outstanding FinTech leader of the year.

Katherine McConnell, the founder and CEO of Brighte, received the honour at FinTech Australia’s Finnie awards. Presented by Jobs for NSW, the Finnies are Australia’s only industry-backed FinTech awards and are in their second year.

The award given to Katherine McConnell was one of 23 handed out at a gala ceremony in Sydney last night. The awards were decided by 81 domestic and international judges.

The Finnies celebrate the remarkable achievements of Australia’s best FinTech businesses who are recognised for excellence in sectors such as lending, wealth management, payments, crowdfunding, blockchain, artificial intelligence and regtech.

A new award category has also been introduced in this year’s awards for the best fintech customer experience/design outcome.

In addition to McConnell’s award, the awards night saw a number of exciting FinTech organisations and leaders recognised for their achievements, including:

• Civic-focused blockchain company Civic Ledger (Emerging FinTech Organisation of the Year)
• Retail FinTech Afterpay (FinTech Organisation of the Year)
• Airwallex co-founder and chief operating officer Lucy Liu (Female FinTech Leader of the Year)
• Afterpay CEO and co-founder Nick Molnar (Emerging FinTech Leader of the Year) Katherine McConnell founded Brighte in 2015, after a 16-year career in investment banking and financial services (including at the Macquarie Bank).

Her company provides on-the-spot finance for energy home improvements, such as solar panels, insulation and batteries. Applications take two minutes for customers to complete, with a credit outcome received in nine seconds.

Since it launched 18 months ago, the startup has approved over $50 million of applications from more than 6,000 Australian homeowners.

One judge said of Ms McConnell: “Katherine is an inspirational female FinTech founder and has demonstrated her excellent leadership skills and vision to drive the business growth of Brighte”.

FinTech Australia CEO Brad Kitschke congratulated Ms McConnell and all the other winners of the 2018 Finnie awards. Kitschke said the winners reflected the maturity and growth of Australia’s FinTech industry.

“The winners of the 2018 Finnies are providing consumers and businesses new and improved services and a real alternative to the banks and other traditional financial institutions,” Kitschke said.

“The winners include smaller FinTech startup companies but now also include larger scale-up FinTechs which are dominant players in their sectors and are major employers in their own right.”

Kitschke said that the Finnies Awards recognise the high potential of growth in the Australian fintech industry which are already generating future economic returns and jobs. “The fact we received 223 award entries – a 40 per cent increase from the 158 entries in 2017 – in itself illustrates the increasing number of strong companies and leaders within our growing Australian FinTech industry,” Kitschke said.

Kitschke also paid tribute to Simon Cant, the inaugural chair of FinTech Australia and co-founder and managing director of Reinventure, who received a Services to FinTech award.

“Simon has been an inspirational founding father of the Australian FinTech movement and tonight was a great opportunity to recognise him for his tireless work and contributions,” Kitschke said.

NSW Deputy Premier and Minister for Small Business John Barilaro said he was thrilled to see 16 out of the 23 award winners were NSW based, including the fintech leader of the year and emerging fintech leader of the year.

“This is a tremendous result for our fintech sector with NSW picking up 55 out of 89 finalist positions and now nearly 70 per cent of the awards.

“We recognise the important and increasing role of fintech in driving innovation and future growth in our financial services sector.

“The NSW Government is investing heavily in startups which are creating jobs and industries for the future, including through initiatives like Jobs for NSW and the Sydney Startup Hub as well as our support for the Finnie Awards.”The full list of Finnie winners are below:

• FinTech Organisation of the Year – Afterpay
• Emerging FinTech Organisation of the Year – Civic Ledger
• Outstanding FinTech Leader of the Year – Katherine McConnell, Founder and CEO, Brighte
• Female FinTech Leader of the Year – Airwallex co-founder and chief operating officer Lucy Liu
• Emerging FinTech Leader of the Year – Afterpay CEO and co-founder Nick Molnar
• Excellence in Wealth Management – Pocketbook
• Excellence in Payments – Airwallex
• Excellence in Consumer Lending – RateSetter Australia
• Excellence in Regtech – Proviso
• Excellence in Blockchain/Distributed Ledger – AgriDigital
• Excellence in Business Lending – Trade Ledger
• Excellence in Data/AI Solutions – Data Republic
• Excellence in Insurtech – Cover Genius
• Excellence in Cyber Security – XM Cyber
• Excellence in Digital Currencies/Wallets/Exchanges – Finch
• Excellence in Crowdfunding – OnMarket
• Best Marketing/Branding Initiative of the Year – SocietyOne
• Excellence in Industry Collaboration & Partnerships – TravelbyBit
• Excellence in Establishing Market Presence: Global – Verrency
• Excellence in FinTech Support Services (Infrastructure and Investment) – Stone & Chalk
• Excellence in FinTech Support Services (Professional Services) – The Fold Legal
• Best Customer/User Experience – Look Who’s Charging
• Best Workplace Diversity – Valiant Finance

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