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Finsure’s loan book grew by 26 per cent year-on-year following its merger with a Western Australian bank.
Kalgoorlie-based bank Goldfields Money has announced that Finsure has grown its aggregation loan book by 26 per cent year-on-year in October, reaching a record $34 billion, while the number of loans writers rose by 21 per cent to its highest of 1,531.
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Further, the total volume of aggregation settlements in October was $1.15 billion, an increase of 9 per cent when compared to the same month in 2017.
Finsure managing director John Kolenda said the growth has been achieved “against a backdrop of negative system growth, and at a time when many of our competitors are finding market conditions very difficult”.
“We are performing well ahead of system growth and our ASX-listed peers, which is testament to the success of our recent merger,” Mr Kolenda claimed.
Also speaking of the results, Simon Lyons, the managing director of Goldfields Money, said loan settlements under Finsure’s Better Choice and Goldfields Money brands reached a collective $58 million in October, which is 97 per cent higher than the same month last year prior to Goldfields Money being granted the authority to label itself a bank and its subsequent merger with Finsure through the issue of over 40.7 million Goldfields Money shares to the aggregator’s shareholders.
“We have also successfully increased our deposit base to $211 million, up from $195 million as at June 30, and continue to successfully diversify our funding sources with our call deposits increasing to 21 per cent, up from 18 per cent at the end of June,” Mr Lyons added.
The bank’s managing director also said that the merger has “created a new force in digital banking” and that the combined entity, which is powered by Temenos and Finsure software, will focus on distribution through the broker channel.
“We have built a cost-effective and scalable platform and the distribution capability we now have elevates us in the marketplace,” Mr Lyons said.
In 2019, some key goals for Goldfields Money will be to fully integrate the Better Choice team and rebrand to a more “consumer-centric” bank.
Following the merger, Goldfields Money appointed Jussi Nunes to the position of group CFO. He was previously at Commonwealth Bank as general manager of business product finance.
The bank also recently announced a strategic partnership with blockchain-based solutions provider Ivy Koin to “commercialise the use of blockchain technology in banking to validate and legitimise digital currency to fiat transactions without the traditional banking framework”.
“The technology behind digital currencies really can’t be ignored. The biggest issue for the traditional banking sector in dealing with this is ensuring financial institutions meet compliance obligations and are able to adequately identify the source of funds, the identity of an account holder and verify other aspects of these transactions,” Mr Lyons said in November.
“We are excited to be working with Ivy to pioneer solutions to confirm adequate validation in compliance with the stringent regulatory requirements that banks must meet.”
[Related: ‘Upsetting’ the broker model ‘wouldn’t be wise’: Bank CEO]
