Eva Zileli, the firm’s Melbourne-based group treasurer, says Latitude’s decisive and wide-scale response would not have been possible without a strong treasury function. “Big events provide an opportunity for the team to step up and show what they have got,” she remarks. “There was an ASX announcement soon after we identified the incident. Meanwhile, we had to be prepared to respond quickly to investor calls and questions, and so we could proactively reach out to our key financers. We had a good sense of what investors would want to know and made sure we could address their concerns.”

A proof point to the success of Latitude’s response was its decision and ability to go ahead with a A$500 million (US$321 million) asset-backed securities redemption even while the incident was ongoing. “If we had not had our robust treasury practices in place this call may not have been the smooth process it was,” Zileli continues. “By redeeming the bonds when due, we demonstrated that we could still run our treasury during the incident – which gave confidence to investors.”

Andrew Robinson, Latitude’s Melbourne-based head of funding, explains that a critical factor was that the firm was set up to withstand the kind of business and funding hiatus it triggered in response to the attack. “We relied on our foundation work, the diversification of our funding and the duration of our facilities. It was a good reminder not to cut corners,” he says.

Since the cyber attack, Latitude has been focused on private sources of funding. However, Robinson expects it will pursue a public transaction soon, conditions and event risk permitting. “A key takeaway from the last few years is that open access to markets should not be taken for granted,” he tells KangaNews.

Meanwhile, asset performance during and after the system lockdown adds to the resilience story. Robinson continues: “COVID-19 was a test the whole industry grappled with, and the cyber event was an additional test for Latitude. We were prepared in our systems and reporting and were therefore able to give investors confidence that was based in data.”

Latitude’s portfolio performance has been robust even as the interest rate cycle has progressed, although Robinson says the nonbank lender also continues to experience high prepayment rates across its assets. This includes the cards portfolio, which saw significant paydown of balances during the pandemic.

Robinson is confident that Latitude’s consumer finance portfolios will continue to perform relative to other asset classes even though the economic outlook is uncertain. “Consumers try to make the best decisions to maintain access to credit. They will stick to this approach for as long as possible: whether it means managing their mortgage or consumer loan, they are doing so with a view to maintaining their credit performance, credit rating and ability to refinance,” he says. “Asset-silo thinking is what we do, but consumers manage across their portfolio. This was a theme during the COVID-19 period and it has continued.”

Sustainable finance also remains on the radar. Latitude established an environmental, social and governance (ESG) working group in 2022 with representatives from across the organisation and chaired by Zileli. The working group has done a lot of materiality mapping work, supported by external standards, to identify ESG risks relevant to Latitude. This forms the foundations for the company’s ESG activity and reporting.

Zileli says the social and governance aspects of sustainable finance may be the most natural fit for Latitude. It has carbon emissions data and is in an energy-efficient building. But the primary areas where Latitude believes it can make an impact are in the social and governance space. Zileli comments: “We do not lend to large emitters like the banks do. But Latitude can make a difference elsewhere across the ESG spectrum.”