For the second time, the board of Maleny Credit Union will seek the demutualisation and sale of its business to a fintech seeking to crash their way into the banking industry.

Sydney-based software enterprise Lakeba Group is the bidder and, via a different structure, will be seeking to clear hurdles that obstructed FirstMac in its unsuccessful effort last year.

Lakeba are the head entity for Ezifin, a digital banking system supplier headed by former Vow CEO Tim Brown. Banking Day reported a year ago on the aspirations of Lakeba and EziBank (as it was) to secure a neobank licence.

Lakeba Group “is leading private investors to pay about $6.7m million for the business” the MCU board informed members in a statement at their website on Friday, with no clue as to the identity of these investors.

MCU Members will receive a nominal $1500, $750 in cash and $750 in shares in the entity that will own and operate the business.

The MCU Charitable Trust will receive a donation of $1 million.

The MCU board said Lakeba Group “is also committing a further $10 million to fund MCU’s transformation into Australia’s first profitable modern bank, and Australia’s most progressive bank offering services tailored to customers’ individual stages and walks of life.

“Lakeba Group will also provide the much-needed technology stack that drives our digital transformation into Australia’s most modern bank.”

The second-smallest credit union in Australia by net assets, MCU has been fielding merger proposals from other mutual ADIs in Queensland in recent times, and one or more of these may continue to press their case as Maleny’s members – many of whom belong to a number of other local cooperatives – consider their position.

Banking Day yesterday approached Sarah Davies, the chair of MCU and Giuseppe Porcelli, the founder and CEO of Lakeba for comment, but neither was open to media interviews.