It was my great pleasure to introduce the new Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science Greg Hunt to Tyro and the Tyro Fintech Hub — into a world that not so long ago would have been deemed unthinkable in Australia.

It was also a timely briefing by myself and Sharon Lu, GM of Tyro Fintech Hub before the minister addressed the AFR National Innovation Summit.

How far have we come? In 2003, three Australian engineers started the Tyro journey of rethinking banking as we know it. Today 300 Tyros deliver nextgen banking to Australian SMEs: the cloud-based, totally mobile and integrated banking model which is the most advanced on a global scale.

It was made possible by marrying fintech and banking DNA and, in the first place, by the enabling approach of the Reserve Bank of Australia and the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority. Indeed, Tyro is the first technology company to be granted a full banking licence in living memory.

The Tyro SME Banking Report has found that 44 percent of Australian SMEs, or 880,000 businesses, spend more than three hours a week checking, entering, paying and reconciling data, costing each an average of $7,800 a year which adds up to a total of $7 billion nationally.

A recent Macquarie report into SME lending estimated a shortfall of $60 billion. How many more jobs, products and services could Australian SMEs create if they did not waste their time with inefficient banking and if they had adequate access to growth capital?

Tyro nextgen banking addresses those pain points with a dramatically different approach, tailoring the solution to the specific needs of the business.

For example:

  • In 11 seconds a patient has paid the doctor visit and received the Medicare refund in the bank account and the practice has the funds reconciled in the account.
  • In one smart account the business holds its surplus cash at call, always earning interest which increases over time without the hassle of term deposits, rollovers, breakages and dishonour fees.
  • In one smart app on the mobile device the business authorises payments or accepts unsecured cashflow-based loans with a tap on the phone anywhere, anytime.

Tyro’s vision is fair and transparent banking that helps businesses grow. A lot of work is still ahead until all frictions to banking are removed through automation and integration and access to lending is maximised through automation and data analytics.

Greg Hunt visits the Tyro FinTechHub

Created by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs

In 2014, Tyro opened up Australia’s first fintech hub, created by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs. The Tyro Fintech Hub is a generous space in the heart of Sydney’s financial district where founders work and collaborate, companies accelerate, mentors contribute, experts teach, investors discover, and where the FinTech community meets.

The dozens of companies who call Tyro Fintech Hub home have, over the past 21 months, raised several millions of dollars in investment, provided many new jobs, and played a vital role in the ongoing transformation of financial services in Australia.

The entrepreneurs cover a broad spectrum of fintech start-ups innovating in areas as diverse as payments and lending, financial literacy and superannuation, trading and exchanges, through to blockchain and behavioural finance, as well as host to a health insurance accelerator.

At Tyro we share the vision that the country needs to create the encouraging and enabling environment where the best ideas win. We believe that it takes an ecosystem to reinvent banking and financial services. And we believe that the race is on.

Why would making Australia the leading fintech hub of Australia be unthinkable, if we get the policy settings right and mobilise the Australian spirit of having a go? We just need many more Tyros challenging the status quo and getting on with it.