Auswide Bank lends $60m, takes 20pc in MoneyPlace
Auswide Bank is offering $60 million in personal loans over five years via fledgling peer-to-peer lender MoneyPlace along with a 20 per cent stake in the start-up to boost its personal loans to younger borrowers.
Martin Barrett, the managing director of the small, listed Queensland bank, which has a loan book of about $2.4 billion, said it had been in talks with MoneyPlace about investing in and via the platform for about a year while it was seeking its credit licence from the corporate watchdog.
“What the P2P guys have to offer is something that is more advanced and capable than what we would be able to put into the marketplace in the near future.” – Martin Barrett, Auswide Bank managing director
“We see it as being a valid platform to extend our consumer finance ambitions,” he said.
The bank primarily does home loans, but is keen to expand its modest $20 million personal loan book and believes it will get access to a bigger, younger market outside Queensland via MoneyPlace.
