Making the most of global currency transfers

Ozforex Group Limited (ASX:OFX) CEO and Managing Director Richard Kimber explains how consumers and investors can benefit from the global currency transfer industry to The Capital Network’s Lelde Smits.

Read the interview below or watch the video...

Lelde Smits: Joining me here at OFX is its CEO and Managing Director, Richard Kimber. Richard, welcome.

Richard Kimber: Thank you.

Lelde Smits: Now Richard let’s talk about the online payments industry. Australia’s Big Banks still control the industry. Why is that and where are consumers looking for alternatives?

Richard Kimber: They still control the industry because of their history really. They’ve been around for a long time. But I think interestingly, as you look at international payments, that is where it is less clear and that’s where companies like ours have really started to gain [market] share. And, I think as you broaden the spectrum and look overseas the Australian banks have less of an impact.

Lelde Smits: You mentioned ‘international’. We’ve also got investors that are increasingly looking to global markets for opportunities. What factors are driving this demand to look offshore?

Richard Kimber: Well I think it’s information firstly. People are now much more aware of international investment opportunities. I think the other aspect to it as well is that the Australian investment market is quite small in terms of the overall actual size of it and it’s quite concentrated. So, what people are often looking for is more diversity, more exposure to technology, more exposure to newer industries. So, I think increasingly people will look offshore for investment.

Lelde Smits: And Richard while on technology, you’ve been in this industry for quite sometime, including working at Google. How have you seen the online payments industry really evolve in the time that you’ve been working?

Richard Kimber: I think that one of the biggest changes has been the levelling of the playing field around technology. Historically companies like Google and Facebook had an advantage in technology but I think we’ve all caught up in terms of the broader payments industry and FinTechs in general. So, I can now hire an engineer that’s just as qualified as an engineer that will work at Google. And, our infrastructure as it moves to the cloud will be just as low cost as their infrastructure. So I think increasingly we’ll become real technology players in our own right.

Lelde Smits: Finally Richard, as we look to the future what are the biggest changes you think we’re likely to see in the online payments industry?

Richard Kimber: Well I think interestingly once again we’ll see those technology companies come into the payments space. We’ve seen that in China with products like [Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA)’s] AliPay and so on. We’ve also seen it in the US with Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) getting into payments with ApplePay. So, I think there is a real convergence where technology companies and financial services companies start to play in each other’s territory. So I think it’s a very interesting space and I think one that’s growing a lot.

Lelde Smits: Very interesting, thank you for your insights today.

Richard Kimber: Thank you.