BANKING & FINANCE

Cryptocurrency hedge funds had a banner year in 2017, and it looks like the industry will continue to grow in the next few months.

KODAKcoin may have kick-started a wave of new corporate coins and Global Blockchain Technologies (CSE: BLOC; OTC: BLKCF) hopes to benefit.

The new Australian $50 has been revealed. On Thursday, the Reserve Bank of Australia released the design of the new banknote.

Apple has effectively shut down Westpac’s mobile banking keyboard app. The Australian bank will remove its Westpac Keyboard function on iOS in July after the US-based tech giant pulled the plug on it.

The Fair Work Ombudsman has encouraged horticulture businesses to provide a written piecework agreement for backpackers that the business would employ.

Australia’s mining and metals sector enjoyed an impressive 2016 with the total number of deals increasing. According to a report from global accounting and consulting firm EY, an escalation of 31 percent was witnessed in the Australian mining M&A deal volume.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) and Airtasker has teamed up to increase users' reputation as users handle their business.

Chinese futures in terms of iron ore prices sustained a downfall on Friday. This comes on the heels of Australia’s central bank’s expectation that prices of commodities will go down again.

The Aussie dollar soared against the US currency on Friday, climbing past 77 US cents. The Australian dollar reached 77.14 US cents.

National Australia Bank suffered a fall of 1 percent in its cash earnings, as reported in its first quarter unaudited cash profit. This comes on the heels of a decline in bad and doubtful debts associated with the commodities sector.

ANZ has revamped its issuance policy of replacement cards for customers who lost their debit or credit card.

Australia’s retail sales figures are out, and they are not even near to what was expected. The AUD saw a relative declined in value in early local trade on Tuesday.

As per a leading cannabis research publisher, ArcView Market Research, North America’s legal cannabis market has posted a 30 per cent increase in revenue on 2015. The revenue figure in 2016 was US$9.3 billion (AU$12 billion). Considering a compound annual growth rate of 25 percent, the marijuana market may post US$20.2 billion (AU$27.9 billion) sales by 2021.

National Australia Bank's Internet and phone banking system have crashed, flooding the bank with complaints from customers saying they could not access it. 

Following the footsteps of Indian and Venezuela, Australia is also considering to ban $100 notes in a bid to crack down black money. Furthermore, ban on cash payments exceeding a certain limit is also under consideration.

NAB will increase the variable interest rates for home loans from Monday.

MasterCard could pay £19 billion (AU$33 billion) in damages for allegedly setting unlawfully high interchange fees for 16 years. A class action suit in the UK against the financial services giant could see millions of British consumers collecting more than £450 (AU$780) each.

The Turnbull government has announced a $75 billion infrastructure project to secure the future of Arrium Mining and Minerals, which entered into voluntary administration on Thursday.

ASIC says ANZ used its large market position to influence interest rates, which benefited the bank but disadvantaged its clients.

The profitability of Australia's banks, which at one point were worth more than the whole of the European banking sector, may not last as margins are under pressure on two counts.

While most may decide to spend their Christmas in a conventional manner, some may decide to spend their holiday money for a cause.

According to Minister of Agriculture Alexander Tkachev, around 15 percent of Turkish agricultural products do not meet Russian standards.

Fortescue Metals Group Limited inked an Iron Ore Sale and Purchase Agreement with Australian Aboriginal Mining Corporation Pty Ltd on Monday.

The United Kingdom is changing the tail design of its £1 coin.

Very high oil prices may be bad for the global economy, but too low prices of the commodity may also negatively impact markets.

It appears The Pirate Bay is back in business as it reportedly popped out of Costa Rica. Following Swedish police crackdown on the site, the notorious file-sharing site appears to back up through a Costa Rican web address. This also follows declarations of Pirate Party head Bruno Kramm that it is impossible to close down sites as such because multiple servers will eventually go up for their sake.

Last Friday, Apple declared publicly that the company has launched a new program, which invites iPhone users to get a replacement of their iPhone chargers that are deemed to be faulty. This invite is applicable for iPhone users belonging to 37 different countries across the globe.

E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) 2014, the annual video game conference at the Los Angeles Convention center has unveiled quite an assortment of games this year. Both Microsoft and Sony utilized their turn impressively. Nevertheless, the war between PS4 and Xbox One are world renowned.

The brand new 'Razer Blade' 2014 laptop is projected as the epic gaming laptop ever. In a nutshell, it comes with a killer display, thin clamshell design and it provides ultimate gaming experience.