Cashwerkz reassures depositors
Cash management marketplace Cashwerkz has bounced back after releasing a half-year financial report that said it needed to raise additional funding to be able to meet its commitments. Last week it announced new distribution agreements with a comparison site and a financial planning group.Cashwerkz has established a pilot program with Mozo to offer term deposits via the Mozo platform. And it has an agreement to deliver its term deposit and at-call deposit service to JB Were advisers.The company said in a statement that the Mozo deal is its first partnership with a comparison site. "Consumers will be able to research, transact and place funds all in one place," it said.JB Were has a network of 500 advisers, with a total of A$28.2 billion of funds under management. Cashwerkz executive chair John Nantes said the deals were an endorsement of the company's business model. "They have done their due diligence," he said.The company suffered heavy losses and cash outflows during the December half and reported that it would have to raise capital to meet its commitments. It lost $3.6 million during the six months to December, following a loss of $7.3 million in the 2018/19 year.Net operating cash outflow was $2.8 million. The company has cash and cash equivalents of $2.3 million remaining.The financial report says: "The ability of the group to continue as a going concern is principally dependent upon receiving additional funding support and managing cash flow in line with available funds."Cashwerkz has $1.08 billion of investor balances on its platform, which are invested in a range of bank term deposit and at-call accounts. More than 4000 investments were made on the platform last year.Nantes said investors' funds would not be at risk if the company failed."We do not touch the money. There is no custodial service involved in the process. The clients are always in control of their money. We don't have any discretion over that."The money goes from bank to bank. When banks join our platform they audit us. They are comfortable with our process."Cashwerkz streamlines the identification and verification of investors (including KYC for AML). The company says its technology "speeds up the process, creates an environment that ensures the owner of the funds remains the owner of the funds and there is no discretionary involvement by a third party that creates additional risk."Nantes says the Cashwerkz process is in line with ASIC recommendations in a report (584) published in 2018, "Improved protections for deposit accounts with third-party access".