Briefs: Westpac backs payday lending, Arab Bank rating dropped, NAB set for growth

  • Westpac will become a wholesale funder to payday lender Cash Converters for the next two years. The bank has set up a A$60 million facility for Cash Converters under which Westpac will provide up to 70 per cent of the principal of each loan. 
  • Moody's Investors Service says it has withdrawn the credit ratings of Arab Bank Australia Limited, including the Baa3 long-term rating and the Prime-3 short-term rating. Moody's said it had withdrawn the ratings for "business reasons".
  • Joseph Healy, head of business banking at National Australia Bank, has told The Australian newspaper that NAB is seeing "pent-up intent" from firms and that its clients are "signalling" a desire to borrow and invest when confidence strengthens. Healy said business credit growth could rise to the "five to seven per cent range" over the next five years, after growth of less than four per cent over the last year.