The lender, Judo Capital, has now been granted a licence to operate as an authorised deposit-taking institution (ADI) under Australia’s Banking Act.
As reported last week, the bank’s chief executive said that these plans were in the works from the outset.
“We built it with the intention of eventually becoming a bank,” CEO Joseph Healy said.
“We believe that, notwithstanding the higher regulatory cost associated with being a bank, there are a lot of other benefits that allow you to grow and offer businesses a greater range of options than we would be able to offer if we were a non-bank lender.”
The bank will “only lend to small and medium-sized businesses”, as is the case now, according to Mr Healy.
“As Australia’s first dedicated business bank, we want to be champions for small and medium-sized businesses — the most dynamic sector of the Australian economy but one that has been often ignored or taken for granted for too long,” he said.
