Arty Parpera raises neobank bar

Ian Rogers

Neobank CEO Daniel Cannizzaro

There’s no need to have a banking licence to be a bank, this is a saying in APRA.

Were South Melbourne’s Ferocia the marvel it is meant to be, Up’s cross-border payments would be a TransferWise offering in the app, and they aren’t a bank either.

It’s pop culture and folklore now, neobanking is the market’s business.

Barging in is Parpera, a Sydney start-up with method and not much money.

Daniel Cannizzaro, EY trained, is the dude driving Parpera, an otherwise by the book fintech.

Stone & Chalk is home and Parpera are underway.

A seed capital raising is now in the market, EOI stage on the Equitise platform, with Cannizzaro leaving the numbers for later.

The thinking is that there is plenty of scope to float a premium bundle into market.

Parpera has interviewed and surveyed more than 250 business owners, freelancers, and entrepreneurs “to better understand the challenges they face,” Cannizzaro said.

“Australians specifically want a better solution that makes it easier and faster to:

· receive money from their customers;

· maintain positive cash flow and manage expenses, tax and reporting obligations; and

· access support, products and services, personalised to their business and needs.”

Parpera “is developing a fully-digital solution that will initially seek to provide digital wallet, card, payments, and money management capabilities, to help Australian businesses, freelancers, and entrepreneurs to improve the way they do business”.

Cannizzaro told Banking Day Parpera “is not a bank and isn’t restricted by legacy business models or technology platforms. We’re re-thinking the way people interact with financial services, and the role they play in the way we do business and live our lives."

NOT a bank? Or near enough to a bank?

On Equitise, Parpera pitches it Trekkie style.

“Finally, a neobank for Australian businesses, freelancers, and entrepreneurs, is the pitch.”

No Parpera have not mispoken. They repeat the neobank status boldly.

Asked to confirm this last night Cannizzaro asked my opinion.

‘I support this’ I told him.