Australian challenger Judo Bank gets $500m injection for SME lending

Australian digital challenger bank Judo Bank announced late last week a $500m (~£250m) funding injection for lending to SMEs.

Half of the money comes from the Australian Treasury’s recently announced $15bn (~£7.5bn) Structured Finance Support Fund (SFSF) and the other half comes from the Australian Office of Financial Management’s (AOFM) Australian Business Securitisation Fund (ABSF).

David Hornery,Judo Bank’s co-founder and co-CEO, said: “At a time when the availability of credit has never been more important to tens of thousands of Australian SMEs, Judo is delighted to be able to announce such a substantial investment by the AOFM.”

“The investments by the Australian Business Securitisation Fund and the SFSF, which have been set up by the federal government to provide funding to SME lenders, and in turn to the SME community, are particularly timely.” 

“They will have a direct and positive impact on small and medium-sized enterprises nationally,” he added.

It was in late January the Judo Bank hit $1bn in personal term deposits, with up to 95 per cent of that money already having been lent to Australian SMEs.

It is hoped that the funds set up by the two Government departments can help Australian SMEs stay afloat during the current period of economic uncertainty.