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The SME bank has appointed two into new roles as it looks to continue its investment in technology.
Small- to medium-sized enterprise (SME) lender Judo Bank (Judo) has announced the appointment of Frank Versace and Stephen Mifsud during the Macquarie Australia Conference yesterday (9 May 2024).
However, Judo Bank has said that due to “some changes in its operating model”, it has identified that some “non-customer facing roles” are no longer required and allowed the lender to expand its search for more relationship bankers to continue “growing in new regions”.
A spokesperson from Judo Bank told The Adviser that the lender is still working through a consultation process with its team and expects “40–50 team members to be impacted”.
Effective as of 1 July, Versace will enter the role of chief strategy and growth office and will be responsible for the execution of new growth opportunities for the lender.
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Versace is currently the chief risk officer and previously led the bank’s relationship function. Judo Bank confirmed that it is searching for a new chief risk officer.
Meanwhile, Mifsud has been appointed to the role of executive general manager, relationship banking, and will be in charge of Judo Bank’s national relationship strategy.
Mifsud was previously the lender’s managing director, relationships, a position he has held since December 2018.
Commenting on the new appointments, Judo Bank chief executive Chris Bayliss said he is “very pleased to announce the appointment of Frank and Stephen to their new roles”.
“Both have distinguished business banking credentials and [an] in-depth understanding of Judo’s customers and our unique value proposition,” Bayliss said.
Bayliss said on the redundancies: “I strongly believe that the changes we are making to our operating model set us up to deliver continued strong growth and the operating leverage inherent in our business model.
“We have continued to recruit more relationship bankers and execute our strategy to expand into new regions.”
Further investment in tech
Along with these appointments, Judo Bank has said that it continued to “rapidly execute its technology investment program” as of 3Q24.
Reportedly, the lender has upgraded “several core platforms” to scalable solutions including the lending and deposit origination, digital banking, and enterprise data platforms, with the credit risk engine and general ledger platforms also progressing.
Furthermore, Judo partnered with global provider Thought Machine in order to develop a new core lending platform that has entered the pilot phase.
Bayliss said: “At the IPO we outlined that we would invest $100 million of capex in technology. This included investing in our core systems and building the digital and data capability required for a full-scale bank.
“We are very well progressed with this work. Over the past two years we have upgraded our lending and deposit origination, digital banking, and enterprise data platforms.
“We are well progressed with our credit risk engine and general ledger, which should be completed by the end of this calendar year.”
Financial results
On the lender’s year-to-date performance, Bayliss said that demand for lending has “picked up substantially since the beginning of the year”.
As of 8 May 2024, Judo Bank’s loan balance sat at $10.2 billion, with a pipeline of lending at “an all-time high” of $1.7 billion at an average margin of approximately 4.4 per cent.
Judo Bank hit the $10 billion milestone on 16 April 2024, on the five-year anniversary of being granted its banking licence by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA). This revealed growth of 135 per cent per annum over five years.
Meanwhile, customers in 90-plus day arrears have increased “as expected”, up to 2.63 per cent of gross loans and advances from 1.73 per cent in December.
According to the lender, the increase was mainly driven by four loans with strong property security in the manufacturing and property segments.
Bayliss said the impacts of higher inflation and interest rates have “continued to work their way through the economy”.
“As expected, our credit quality metrics continue to normalise and we have seen more customers enter arrears, with our approach remaining to assist and work with impacted customers during this challenging period,” Bayliss said.
“With our core franchise performing well and new lending opportunities opening up, I have never been more excited about the future of the bank.
“We are on track to achieve our vision of creating a world-class SME business bank that generates a return on equity in the low-to-mid teens.”
[RELATED: Judo Bank loan book reaches $10bn]
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