Sept 6 (Reuters) – Australian neo-bank Volt said on Monday it had partnered with BTC Markets (BTCM) to provide integrated banking capabilities to the crypto-currency exchange, a first-of-its-kind deal in the country.<\/p>\n
Neo-banks rely on digital technologies to break into the banking market with low-cost offers and have been licensed in Australia in recent years to improve competition as the \u201cBig Four\u201d lenders dominate nearly 80% of the market.<\/p>\n
The Volt-BTCM partnership comes at a time of a marked shift towards online banking and payment, and which effectively led to the growth of neo-banks and other alternate financial platforms.<\/p>\n
The deal will provide BTCM, which has around 325,000 Australian customers, access to a corporate cash management account with real-time notifications and payment automation, the companies said.<\/p>\n
BTCM will invite its customers to open Volt bank accounts in the coming months for real-time trading, they said.<\/p>\n
The firms added that the total of all deposits in Volt accounts are covered by protection of up to a maximum of A$250,000 ($185,900) per account holder under the Financial Claims Scheme.<\/p>\n
Earlier this year, Australia\u2019s banking watchdog initiated stricter requirements for companies seeking banking licenses and increased scrutiny of new entrants in the market, highlighting concerns around \u201cneo-banks\u201d.<\/p>\n