Judo sets on price-leading deposits
Judo Bank is planning to make a big play for consumer deposits next month, even though it will retain a primary focus on lending to small to medium businesses.In an interview with Banking Day after Judo was granted a full banking licence by APRA on Wednesday, co-founder Joe Healy said his newly-minted bank would target retail depositors as a source of funding from the end of May.Healy said the Melbourne-based bank would launch price-leading offers in the term and at-call deposits segments that will eclipse the rates currently being marketed by almost every ADI in the country."We plan to launch online term and at-call accounts at the end of May and we will be offering attractive rates that are likely to rank at the top of the market pricing tables," he said."While Judo will keep its focus on being a business lender, our deposit products will be aimed at both retail and business customers."Judo is also pledging to maintain a sharp pricing strategy for at least the next 12 months."We think we can sustain price-leading offers for the next year or longer because we don't have a legacy book," Healy said.The Canstar rate tables show that mutual banks such as Police Bank and Teachers Mutual Bank are marketing the highest returning term deposit accounts, with rates pitched at around 2.9 per cent for two years and 3.05 per cent for five years.For Judo to become a price leader in the online bonus saver market it would need to price at around 2.87 per cent to match UBank's current offer.Judo has been the most successful of Australia's new generation of banking startups in winning investment support from institutional and professional investors.After reeling in $140 million last year, the bank is in the middle of courting more investors through a new round of funding that reportedly could fetch an extra $250 million.Healy was reluctant to comment on the imminent capital raising, but said the indicative response from international institutions had been pleasing."We're in the final stages of a capital raising and we've been thrilled at the quantity and quality of the investors who have expressed interest," he said."Until the fat lady sings no capital raising is ever done but I can say that three world-class global investors have indicated they are likely to participate."Offshore superannuation funds such as Canada's Ontario Pensions Trust participated in the capital raising completed in August last year.However, Healy conceded that Australia's $3 trillion domestic superannuation sector remains a difficult nut to crack for startups like Judo."The domestic superannuation industry is just a struggle," he said.Healy said Judo was embarking on a recruitment drive to boost its operations in Sydney and Brisbane.The bank currently employs around 100 staff - mostly in Melbourne - but the number was expected to double over the next six months."The plan is to expand in Brisbane and Sydney this year and then bed down new operations in Perth and Adelaide in 2020," he said.