The first quarter of 2025 saw a lot of action for Suite2Go.
In February, we launched our new Payments Foundry division, our new payments consulting arm with three new senior payment experts Jan McGrath, Craig Glendenning and Mahesh Narayan. Australia is home to over 767 fintech firms, with 20% offering payment services. This includes a mix of payment gateways and other fintech companies that provide payment solutions. With larger companies looking to integrate with these providers and all looking to compete and win, together with increased regulatory changes, we thought now was the right time to launch a dedicated payments division to help the industry navigate the shifting sands of payments.
During this quarter we also brought on a new partner Alpha Vista Financial Services, attended two important conferences, ran a webinar with one of our clients and a round table at the UK consulate, and we closed two significant deals for two of our existing vendor partners.
There was also a lot of action in the local Fintech and financial services community more broadly. The sector is much more buoyant than over the last two years with many fintechs wanting to come to Australia, New Zealand and Asia and also clients within this region much more receptive to upgrading and improving their technology solutions and offering services through technology platforms.
Strategy Day and AI workshop
In February the Suite2Go and Payments Foundry teams and our Advisory Board met to discuss strategy for the year ahead. We focussed on the continued growth of the business and how AI can play a large part in our business growth as well as what we should be looking for in AI to help the Australian Financial services industry.
Thanks to our advisory board that take the time every year to help us on our strategy and growth plans. Myron Stein , Ross Allen , Jacqui McPherson
What’s new!
In February we launched our new business Payments Foundry
During 2023 and 2024 many large consulting groups scaled back around payments. At a time when the rate of change of payments just stepped up a gear there has been a call out from businesses for assistance to understand more, and to take the necessary action around the future of #payments. At the launch event of Payments Foundry on Feb 6th in Sydney we held a panel including one of our client’s Prezzee to examine the “Shifting Sands of Payments”. The Foundry is where the Forge exists, and there is great energy transferred – things are moulded/shaped and when they cool they are solid. Expect a bit of heat in the Foundry & Forge, but it’s necessary to get the job done. Further details of the launch night in the link below.
At the end of the first quarter we brought on a new client for Suite2Go Alpha Vista Financial Services, we look forward to working with them on their outsourced CIO and risk analytics platform. The ability to scale portfolio construction and portfolio management for managed accounts as well as report on the underlying risks is a key advancement that the industry is calling for and we will be helping Alpha Vista with bringing this proposition to the market. A market where managed accounts is growing at an ever increasing pace. And where technology to scale tailored wealth and financial advice is critical.
Conferences and Events
At Suite2Go we believe staying ahead of the curve and being able to share knowledge and learned experience as an industry is extremely important. Conferences are important for their role in fostering collaboration, knowledge sharing, and networking. They can generate significant revenue for businesses, and provide valuable learning and professional development opportunities for attendees. We often run webinars and roundtables for our clients, as they offer distinct yet complementary benefits.Webinars excel at reaching large audiences, providing convenient learning opportunities, and fostering interaction through live Q&A and polls, while also allowing for recording and on-demand access. Roundtables, on the other hand, prioritise in-depth engagement, active listening, and breaking down hierarchies, fostering open discussion and collaboration, especially for senior executives and decision makers.
AM TECH Conference
March 11th saw the inaugural AM TECH DAY APAC event in Sydney with a fantastic opportunity for Fintech and Regtech solution providers to showcase their capabilities to the asset management and superannuation community. Suite2Go was there representing Kaizen Reporting and there were many interesting conversations on the topic of regulatory reporting and the challenges facing the buy-side with the new ASIC obligations in focus.
IMAP Conference
March 11th was a busy day in Sydney for conferences with the IMAP – Institute of Managed Account Professionals conference. The room was packed with asset consultants, fund managers and advisers. The growth of managed accounts are an instrumental shift of the structure of the wealth management industry. It’s also important to understand the main issues and trends in the this sector for our wealth technology partner Chelmer and wealth service partner Alpha Vista Financial Services . Some of the topics covered included; asset allocation in Managed accounts, core and satellite portfolio construction, the ability to add to alternatives and private assets in Managed accounts, performance test of Managed accounts, and considerations for retirement portfolio construction for managed accounts.
Stockbrokers and Investment Adviser Association (SIAA) Webinar
On March 12th our Co-CEO Leanne Bradley moderated a round table on Managed Accounts with Chelmer’s head of Product and Innovation Andy Robertson and Philo Capital Director Toby Potter for Stockbrokers and Investment Advisers Association . The main topics discussed can be found in this article written by Chelmer.
Transaction Reporting Roundtable
On March 12th Suite2Go put on round table for Kaizen Reporting to discuss where the local and offshore banks are with their ASIC and global regulatory reporting obligations. There was a lively discussion over lunch led by Kaizen’s Tim Hartley and there were clearly some useful outcomes for all attendees. On top of this each attendee left with a brand new custom Frank Green water bottle to remember the occasion. We couldn’t have done it without the support of the British Consulate who hosted the event in their boardroom overlooking Circular Quay.
Client news
We look to work with vendors that are addressing a gap or need in the financial services market, whether it be addressing a regulatory requirement, streamlining a very manual process that requires scale or something innovative that no one else is doing and can add valuable insights.
This quarter we signed two new clients for our vendors. One a bank in the area of shareholder disclosure and derivative reporting using our partner Kaizen regulatory reporting . The other a large wealth manager who is implementing one of our vendor partner solutions Dasseti to help with manager investment due diligence. This quarter also saw a new partnership for one of our vendor partners ausbiz who signed a strategic equity partnership with Marketech, launching their AI-driven video insights for investors.
Regulatory News
Regulations – Derivatives
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) revised its derivative transaction reporting rules in October 2024, with the ASIC Derivative Transaction Rules (Reporting) 2024 (2024 Rules) replacing the previous 2022 rules. These changes aim to align with international standards, streamline reporting, and improve data quality. Key changes include the implementation of ISO 20022 for reporting, a revised approach to identifying entities and products, and a focus on “lifecycle” reporting for all derivatives.
CPS 230
CPS 230, the Operational Risk Management prudential standard from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), focuses on ensuring APRA-regulated entities are resilient to operational risks and disruptions. It requires entities to manage operational risks, maintain critical operations during disruptions, and effectively manage risks associated with service providers. The standard aims to strengthen operational risk management, improve business continuity planning, and enhance third-party risk management.
Climate Risk
Australia is implementing mandatory climate-related financial reporting, requiring companies to disclose their climate-related risks and opportunities within a sustainability report. This new reporting regime, effective from January 1, 2025, for large listed and private companies and financial institutions, aims to improve transparency and inform investment decisions related to climate change. The changes are driven by the Australian Sustainability Reporting Standard (ASRS) AASB S2, which mandates the inclusion of climate disclosures in annual reports.
Fintech news and market activity
Industry news during the quarter included.
Calastone launched Tokenised Distribution solution to unlock the future of fund distribution
Identitii and Cherry Hub announce collaboration on financial crime platform
https://company-announcements.afr.com/asx/id8/1a5cc6cb-133a-11f0-808d-2eafb8326ff9.pdf
DTCC announces new platform for tokenised real-time collateral management
Upcoming events
Suite2Go and Chelmer will be sponsoring the upcoming Stockbrokers and Investment Advisers Association Conference on Monday 19th and Tuesday 20th of May in Sydney. Come by and visit our booths if you are attending for your chance to win a pair of Suite2Go Bose AirPods or a Chelmer Frank Green coffee cup! We will also be holding a run on the Tuesday morning of the conference, register with Andrew@Suite2Go.comif you would like to join us.