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Catherine Fitzpatrick

Catherine is Founder & Director of independent consultancy Flequity Ventures.

A former bank executive, she works with businesses to reimagine and redesign products and services to be more flexible, safe and equitable for their customers experiencing vulnerability. In particular, she wants to inspire innovation to disrupt financial abuse and address gender bias in financial products in a commercially sustainable way.

Catherine is the author of Designed to Disrupt: Reimagining banking products to improve financial safety – the first of a series of discussion papers for the Centre for Women’s Economic Safety.

Recognised nationally in 2018 as an AFR|Qantas 100 Women of Influence, she advises the Commonwealth Government on workplace and customer responses to domestic and financial abuse as the only business representative appointed to the National Plan Advisory Group.

She is Chair of the Australian National University’s Student Safety and Wellbeing Committee, Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of New South Wales School of Social Sciences and a member of the Monash Safe and Equal @ Work Advisory Board.

For domestic violence victim-survivors, a data or privacy breach can be extraordinarily dangerous

Dec 04, 2023 12:28 pm UTC| Life

A suite of recent cybersecurity data breaches highlight an urgent need to overhaul how companies and government agencies handle our data. But these incidents pose particular risks to victim-survivors of domestic...

Banks put family violence perpetrators on notice. Stop using accounts to commit abuse or risk being 'debanked'

Jul 05, 2023 03:35 am UTC| Life Law

Ella never knew when her credit card was going to be declined. It happened when she was shopping for groceries with her kids, or refuelling the car. Thats when she would discover her partner had cancelled the card or...

Economy

UK Stocks Slide as Labour Leadership Tensions and U.S.-China Talks Shape Markets

British stocks closed lower on Friday as political uncertainty surrounding the U.K.s ruling Labour Party pressured investor sentiment and weakened the pound for a fourth straight session. The FTSE 100 dropped 0.61%, while...

Cuba Weighs $100M U.S. Aid Offer Amid Fuel Crisis

Cuba said Thursday it is open to considering a $100 million humanitarian aid proposal from the United States, though officials remain doubtful about President Donald Trumps broader intentions as the island struggles...

Asian Currencies Slide as Strong U.S. Data Boosts Dollar and Fed Rate Hike Expectations

Asian currencies weakened on Friday as stronger-than-expected U.S. economic data pushed the dollar higher and reinforced market expectations that the Federal Reserve could maintain a hawkish monetary policy stance through...

Japan Inflation Outlook: Firms Eye Summer Price Hikes Amid Rising Energy Costs

Japan could experience another wave of widespread price increases this summer as companies respond to surging energy costs linked to tensions in the Middle East, according to a Bank of Japan (BOJ) report released Friday....

US Expects China to Boost Purchases of American Farm Products After Trump-Xi Summit

The United States expects China to commit to purchasing double-digit billions worth of U.S. agricultural products following a high-level summit between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing,...

Politics

Ukraine Begins Major POW Swap as 205 Soldiers Return from Russian Captivity

Ukraine has successfully brought home 205 service personnel from Russian captivity in the first phase of a large-scale prisoner exchange with Russia, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy confirmed on Friday. The operation marks a...

Matthew Wale Elected Solomon Islands Prime Minister After No-Confidence Vote

Matthew Wale has been elected as the new Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands after lawmakers voted out former leader Jeremiah Manele in a no-confidence motion last week. The Solomon Islands parliament selected Wale on...

Rubio Urges China to Release Jimmy Lai and Political Prisoners

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States is seeking a positive response from China regarding repeated appeals for the release of jailed Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai and other political detainees....

US Hosts Israel-Lebanon Talks as Ceasefire Deadline Nears

The United States described the latest Israel-Lebanon talks in Washington as productive and positive as diplomats pushed to prevent renewed escalation ahead of a fragile ceasefire deadline. U.S. officials confirmed that...

Pentagon Halts Planned U.S. Troop Deployment to Poland Amid Europe Force Review

The Pentagon has reportedly canceled plans to temporarily deploy 4,000 U.S.-based troops to Poland, according to two U.S. officials, raising fresh concerns over the future of American military presence in Europe under...

Science

Trump Administration Releases New UFO Files and Apollo Mission Records

The U.S. Defense Department has released dozens of previously classified UFO-related files following an order from President Donald Trump, sparking renewed debate over unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) and government...

China vs. NASA: The New Moon Race and What's at Stake by 2030

The space race is back and this time, its a direct competition between the United States and China for dominance on the lunar surface. NASAs Artemis II mission recently made history when four astronauts flew farther into...

NASA Artemis II: First Crewed Moon Mission Since Apollo Takes Four Astronauts on 10-Day Lunar Journey

NASAs Artemis II mission launched Wednesday, marking humanitys return to crewed lunar exploration for the first time since the Apollo era. Carrying four astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft, this historic 10-day mission...

NASA's Artemis II Mission: First Crewed Lunar Journey Since Apollo

NASA's Artemis II Crew Arrives in Florida for Historic Moon Mission

The four astronauts chosen for NASAs Artemis II mission have touched down at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, marking the beginning of final launch preparations for the first crewed lunar journey in over 50 years. NASA...

Technology

Applied Materials Forecasts Strong Q3 Revenue as AI Chip Demand Accelerates

Applied Materials posted record fiscal second-quarter revenue on Thursday and issued a stronger-than-expected forecast for the third quarter, fueled by rising global investment in artificial intelligence infrastructure and...

Anthropic Nears $30 Billion Funding Round at $900 Billion Valuation

AI startup Anthropic is reportedly close to securing a massive $30 billion fundraising deal that would value the company at approximately $900 billion, according to a Financial Times report published Friday. The new...

Nvidia’s China AI Chip Sales Remain Frozen Despite U.S. Approval

Nvidias efforts to expand AI chip sales in China remain stalled even after the U.S. approved several Chinese technology giants to purchase the companys H200 processors. Although around 10 Chinese firms, including Alibaba,...

Alibaba Stock Surges After Strong Q4 Earnings Boosted by AI and Cloud Growth

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (HK:9988) saw its Hong Kong-listed shares jump sharply on Thursday after the Chinese e-commerce and technology giant reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings driven by strong momentum in...

SoftBank Shares Slide Despite Record Q4 Profit Fueled by OpenAI Investment

SoftBank Group Corp. (TYO:9984) shares dropped sharply on Thursday despite the company reporting blockbuster fourth-quarter earnings, as investors grew increasingly concerned about the Japanese tech giants expanding...