Dr Coombes will join Tyro’s executive management team in July, leading almost 200 product and design engineers.

He is the fifth senior Tyro appointment to join from an established institution in the last eight months, reflecting the company’s growing reputation in the market for excellence and innovation.

Tyro is a key player in the Australian payments sector and is the only technology company in Australia to be granted an unrestricted banking licence.
Tyro CEO Gerd Schenkel said that after more than 10 years as a startup, Tyro was preparing to scale up the business, by attracting some of Australia’s most innovative experts to its management team.

“Dave Coombes’ extensive experience with online and mobile platform development, agile methods and his deep knowledge of the financial services industry makes him ideal to lead our already highly skilled engineering team to deliver the next phase of our ambitious growth plans,” Mr Schenkel said.

“Tyro has a highly developed engineering capability and we build everything inhouse and own the entire solution infrastructure. By building our systems, processes and services from the ground up we control every aspect of our product and services development to produce superior system performance for Australian businesses.

“We create our own bespoke solutions for Australia’s 1.2 million small and medium sized businesses, many of which are in the retail, hospitality and health sectors.

“Overwhelmingly our customers recommend us to their friends and family, and that provides a solid base for us to innovate and grow further.

“With that in mind we have created two new roles of Head of Engineering and Head of Product. Our new Head of Product, Kareem al Bassam joined us in January from PayPal.”
Commenting on his move to Tyro, Dr Coombes says, “I am incredibly excited about joining an organisation that not only values engineering excellence but uses the enormous knowledge and passion of its people to push the boundaries of innovation.

“I was also attracted by Tyro’s clear purpose to fundamentally improve the banking experience for Australian businesses. I look forward to meeting and working with all of the talented team at Tyro and playing my part in their continued growth and success.”

Established in 2003, Tyro currently serves more than 18,000 businesses, processed $8.6 billion in transactions and generated more than $95 million in revenue in FY16.

The post Tyro Appointments Director of Engineering to take growth to new level appeared first on AdviserVoice.

Jost Stollmann

Australia’s major retail banks are squandering an opportunity to lend up to $60 billion to the country’s two million small and medium sized businesses because their loan conditions are too restrictive, Tyro Payments said yesterday.

The comments follow the release of an Australian Government’s commissioned inquiry report last Friday into bank lending, which found the big four banks consistently engage in practices that cause significant harm to some small business customers.

Tyro Payments Executive Director Jost Stollmann said Australia’s large banks typically insisted that small business owners put their family home up as collateral for any business loan, rather than relying on the positive cash flow of the business.

“In the 21st century it is a ridiculous restriction that Australia’s big banks are insisting that any small business loan must typically be collateralised by property, rather than the cash flow of the business itself,” Mr Stollmann said.

“This is impeding innovation and job creation, and reinforces the notion that Australia’s large banks in many cases are actually curtailing economic growth.

“We know that Australian SMEs want to borrow up to $60 billion a year more than they currently do to grow their businesses, hire new staff and innovate.”

Tyro research has also found that banking red tape is robbing more than 880,000 small and medium sized businesses of four weeks’ productive work time a year, costing the national economy almost $7 billion annually.

Mr Stollmann’s comments come as the Federal Government’s own commissioned inquiry, by the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman (ASBFEO), found that banks have consistently failed to implement changes to address persistent problems, despite repeated opportunities to do so over the past decade.

The ASBFEO inquiry – completed in just over three months – investigated the circumstances surrounding a number of cases of alleged small business mistreatment by the banks, and concluded loan contracts between banks and small businesses, put the borrower at a distinct disadvantage.

It found that since the Global Financial Crisis of 2007, there have been 17 inquiries and reviews that had produced more than 40 recommendations relating to the small business sector.

The ASBFEO report makes 15 recommendations—four to the federal government and 11 to the banking sector—to address the overall finding that the big four banks “consistently” engage in practices that can significantly hurt some small operators.

ASBFEO will also publish six monthly scorecards on the progress banks are making in response to the recommendations contained in the ASBFEO report.

ASBFEO Ombudsman Kate Carnell conducted hearings with the big four banks at the end of 2016 as part of her inquiry.

As Australia’s only technology company with a bank license, Tyro recognises the restrictions of the big banks’ traditional lending model. Therefore it offers unsecured cash flow lending to small and medium sized businesses.

The post Australia’s major banks squandering $60 billion lending opportunity appeared first on AdviserVoice.

Natalie Dinsdale

Tyro Payments Limited (“Tyro”), Australia’s fastest growing EFTPOS and banking services provider for small and medium sized businesses, yesterday announced the appointment of Natalie Dinsdale as the company’s new Head of Brand & Marketing.

Ms Dinsdale has more than 17 years experience as an entrepreneur and marketer across a range of Australian and UK financial services challenger organisations, including Egg (UK’s 1st Online Bank), Virgin Money, UBank and Bankwest.

Her recruitment follows the appointment of Tyro CEO Gerd Schenkel last October, and Tyro’s new Head of Product, Kareem Al-Bassam, in January.

Mr Schenkel said he was delighted to strengthen Tyro’s leadership team with someone of Ms Dinsdale’s capability in creating and developing challenger brands & propositions.

“Tyro is at an exciting phase of its growth and Natalie’s appointment is the latest example of how we are attracting some of the most talented professionals in Australia to our team,” he said.

“Natalie has deep experience delivering integrated marketing strategies and business growth.”

During her distinguished career, Ms Dinsdale was part of the team that launched Australia’s first home-grown digital deposit and mortgage bank, UBank, which now has about $20 billion in customer balances.

She led the launch of Mortgages for Virgin Money and was involved with Bankwest’s east coast launch and expansion.

Most recently Ms Dinsdale has been operating as an entrepreneur, developing her own start-up e-commerce business in the parenting and baby market.

“Tyro is one of Australia’s most remarkable growth stories, and the opportunity to be part of an organisation dedicated solely to giving SMEs a better deal is incredibly exciting,” Ms Dinsdale said.

Tyro’s growth and achievements since it was established in the early 2000s have been remarkable.

Currently serving more than 17,000 small businesses, Tyro processed $8.6 billion in transactions and generated more than $95 million in revenue in FY16.

In December 2015, Tyro raised about $100 million in fresh growth equity capital from Tiger Global in New York, TDM Asset Management in Australia, and Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes.

In August 2015, Tyro became the first Australian technology company to be granted a full banking licence by the Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority, allowing it to accept deposits and to advance money to Australian businesses.

The post Former UBank executive joins Tyro as new Head of Brand & Marketing appeared first on AdviserVoice.

Mr Al-Bassam has more than 15 years of experience in the global payments industry.

He founded PayPal Credit in Australia, with the launch of small business lending product, PayPal Working Capital. In its first two years of operation, PayPal Working Capital originated more than $100 million in loans in Australia.

His experience in the industry is not just limited to Australia, having executed a range of innovation and payments roles in the United States, Europe and Asia-Pacific.

Mr Al-Bassam will lead the ongoing development of Tyro’s suite of customer-focused banking and payments propositions. Current Head of Product and Engineering, Paul Peterson, will be transitioning into the role of Head of Engineering, to provide more guidance to a rapidly growing engineering team.

This appointment significantly strengthens Tyro’s leadership team following the appointment of new CEO, Gerd Schenkel, last October. Mr Schenkel is no stranger to making waves in the industry, having previously founded Telstra Digital and NAB’s UBank, Australia’s first digital bank.

Mr Schenkel said he was delighted to attract someone of Mr Al-Bassam’s talent to Tyro.

“Kareem brings enormous insight, experience and vision about payments and banking from around the world. He will strengthen our leadership and management team at a time of rapid growth for Tyro,” Mr Schenkel said.

”He knows what it’s like to compete against the established banking sector using technology and an innovative customer-first approach.

“Tyro has ambitious plans to continue our extraordinary growth path, and Kareem will help drive our NextGen banking and payments offering.”

Mr Al-Bassam said he was joining Tyro at a pivotal time in its evolution.

“Tyro has a unique set of assets in mission, technology, culture and scale to disrupt the traditional banking sector for the benefit of Australia’s two million small and medium sized businesses,” he said.

“Tyro’s customer-centred approach means we can identify and address unmet needs. In conjunction with its technology-driven approach, Tyro can meet those needs faster and more effectively than the traditional banks.”

Tyro’s growth and achievements to date have been remarkable. Currently serving more than 16,000 small businesses, Tyro processed $8.6 billion in transactions and generated more than $95 million in revenue in FY16.

In December 2015, Tyro raised about $100 million in fresh growth equity capital from Tiger Global in New York, TDM Asset Management in Australia, and Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes.

In August last year, Tyro became the first Australian technology company to be granted a full banking licence by the Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority, allowing it to accept deposits and to advance money to Australian businesses.

The post Tyro appoints former PayPal executive as new Head of Product appeared first on AdviserVoice.

Andrew Rothwell

Australia could lose its standing at the forefront of the fintech revolution if the big banks are allowed to retain control of customer transaction data.

In it submission to the Productivity Commission Inquiry into Data Availability and Use, Tyro warned that governments and regulators around the world are competing to redesign their policies and regulations as a reaction to market crises and digital disruption.

Tyro Co-Founder Andrew Rothwell said the UK and the EU are well-advanced with their Open Data and Open API movement, and that Australia is lagging behind.

“If Australia is late in delivering Open Data and Open API reforms in this country, the fintech revolution will take place elsewhere,” Mr Rothwell said.

“Fintech investment around the world reached an estimated US$20 billion in 2015, a jump of about seven-fold in only three years.

“Customers are currently being locked out of financial services products and solutions such as alternative lenders or comparison, advisory, financial management and payment services that are designed specifically to meet their needs by innovators who can deliver.

“Customer transaction data belongs to the customer. Banks should be forced to give their customers the right and the ability to share that data with third parties that are licensed under the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority or who have an Australian Financial Services Licence or an Australian Credit Licence.

“By refusing to allow customers to make their data and accounts available to regulated third parties, banks will continue to control the snail’s pace of innovation in Australia – to the detriment of the Australian consumer.”
Mr Rothwell said that banks offering open access to data and external APIs would also benefit because it would enable them to become more of a ‘platform’ for other services.

“Once fintech innovators have been granted permission to analyse, integrate and share data as consumers see fit, they will unleash a vast wave of new products that will give consumers more choice, while increasing the value of their existing products,” he said.

“This industry is going to revolutionise how consumers and businesses interact in the future.

“If Australia is going to become the next fintech Hub of Asia, that revolution needs to happen here.”

The post Australia’s FinTech revolution at risk appeared first on AdviserVoice.