PayPal to offer small business loans in Australia; ASIC raids offices of collapsed funds management business: Midday roundup

PayPal will offer online working capital loans to small business customers in Australia in October, according to Fairfax.

SmartCompany reported earlier this month that PayPal’s small-business arm, PayPal Working Capital, was expanding to Australia as part of PayPal’s global move outside the US.

Australia and Britain are the first regions outside the United States it is rolling out loans to.

In the United States, PayPal Working Capital loans $US1 million a day.

ASIC raids offices of collapsed funds management business

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has raided the Sydney office of collapsed funds management business, van Eyk, reports Fairfax.

The two raids come just days after van Eyk entered voluntary administration as a result of the “recent and sudden closure” of its Blueprint Series of managed funds.

According to Fairfax, the 25-year-old business is also facing scrutiny from New Zealand’s corporate regulator, the Financial Markets Authority.

Administrators Moore Stephens said last week the voluntary administration process will allow it to quarantine and preserve van Eyk’s investment research, consulting and financial advisory arms while options for capital restructuring are investigated.

Shares up on open

The local sharemarket has opened trading with a spring its step, buoyed by positive results in US equities overnight.

However, CMC Markets sales trader Niall King said: “Having galloped out of the gates early on, morning gains by the local sharemarket slowed to a canter with the benchmark index posting a 16 point gain after the opening hour and half”.

“Local participants had been given encouragement by the stronger overnight performance of US equities while iron ore put the brakes on its’ recent slide,” said King.

“The big miners have been the shining light so far, with both RIO and BHP clocking up near 1% gains so far. Following yesterday’s woes, a bright start by the big four banks has faded somewhat with ANZ, NAB and CBA holding onto gains as Westpac flirts with negative territory.”

The S&P/ASX200 benchmark was up 14.6 points to 5390.4 points at 12.03pm AEST. On Wednesday, the Dow Jones closed 154.19 points higher, up 0.9% to 17210.1 points.