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| ASX: JDO | |
| Industry | Financial services |
| Founded | October 16, 2016; 9 years ago (October 16, 2016) |
| Headquarters | Melbourne,Australia |
Key people | Joseph Healy (Chief Executive Officer), Peter Hodgson (Chairman) |
| Products | Business Banking, Term Deposits, financial and related services:Business Loan, Line of Credit, Equipment Loan, Finance Lease, Home Loan, Personal Term Deposit, SME Guarantee Scheme Loans |
| Website | www |
Judo Bank is an Australianneobank focused onsmall and medium-sized enterprise lending but also offers a range of personalterm deposit products to consumers.
As of January 2020[update], Judo Bank had lent $1B to Australian businesses and another $1B in digital retail term deposits.[1][2]
Judo was founded in 2016 with an initial seed investment from an Australian consortium of family offices, led by businessmanGeoff Lord.[3] It did a capital raising in 2018, the largest in Australia at that time, and launched as Judo Capital, raising more than $140 million from Australian and international investors, coordinated byIronbridge Capital.[4][5][6][3][7][8]
At this time a number of global investors bought shares in the bank, these includedIronbridge Capital, Canadian pension fund managerOPTrust,Myer Family Investments, Abu Dhabi Capital Group, Zhong Yi Investment andCredit Suisse Asset Management, Cambooya, Inception Asset Management, Esson and CH Warman Group.[5][9][10]
That same year, former Australian Treasury SecretaryJohn Fraser joined the board alongside former Federal Small Business MinisterBruce Billson.[11]Credit Suisse increased their interest in Judo with a $350 million debt facility.[12][13][14] This was followed by a $100 million facility fromGoldman Sachs in April 2019.[15][16]
In April 2019, TheAustralian Prudential Regulation Authority announced it had granted Judo Bank Pty Ltd a licence to operate as anauthorised deposit-taking institution (ADI) without restriction following its application in May 2018. As part of the licence grant, the business changed its name from Judo Capital to Judo Bank.[17][18]
In June 2019, Judo Bank closedseries B round raising $400 million, new investors now include the Paris and London fundTikehau Capital, and the Boston-based alternative investment firmBain Capital.[19]
On Thursday, 2 April 2020, The Australian government announced that it would invest an initial $250 million into Judo Bank's lending warehouse through theAustralian Office of Financial Management's (AOFM) Australian Business Securitisation Fund and a further $250 million through its recently announced Structured Finance Support Fund (SFSF). The investment from the AOFM made Judo Bank the first recipient of capital from the government's $2 billion small and medium enterprise funding scheme that was unveiled in November 2018.[20][21][22][23]
In May 2020, Judo Bank had raised $230 million in fresh equity from existing investors at a post-money valuation of over $1 billion, giving the bankUnicorn status.[24][25][26][27][28] Judo Bank was the first of the Australianchallenger banks to reach this position.[29]
In December 2020, Judo Bank was ranked among the top 10 independentneo-banks globally by WhiteSight's Top 20 neo-banks of 2020 research, which based the ranking of the neo-banks on valuation. Judo Bank was the only Australian bank to rank among the top 10 neo-banks.[30]
Judo follows the SMEchallenger bank model developed byAldermore,Shawbrook Bank andOakNorth Bank in the UK.[31][32]
Small Business & Family Enterprise OmbudsmanKate Carnell says Judo Bank's launch is well-timed with the lending shortfall continuing to grow. "There is no competition", Carnell said. "The big four banks have 80 percent plus of the SME lending market and they mostly don't lend except if it is secured against property and that means access to capital is very difficult for many SMEs."[33]
Australian Prime Minister,Scott Morrison gave a virtual speech at the Singapore FinTech Festival on 8 December 2020, speaking about fintechs' positive impact on the economic recovery, referring to Judo and four Australian fintechs in particular. "I am incredibly proud of what our Aussie start-ups and early age ventures are achieving, as well as our well-established unicorns and what they’re achieving. You know some of them: Atlassian, Airwallex, Afterpay, Judo Bank, Athena Home Loans."[34]
