Latest News
In the highly competitive Australian residential mortgage space, Athena draws on its specialisation in technology and its digital platform to stand out from the crowd. Athena’s Sydney-based group treasurer, Jason Finlay, discusses the issuer’s collaborative approach to origination, its funding – and cost of funds – strategy and business prospects.
Book diversification is not an unusual strategy in the nonbank sector. What sets Liberty Financial apart, according to ts Melbourne-based chief financial officer, Peter Riedel, is the lender’s robust capitalisation. This provides the flexibility to pursue diverse lending opportunities and to maintain a disciplined but responsive funding strategy.
La Trobe Financial has managed to maintain growth in its lending book despite challenging conditions. The alternative asset manager issued two public residential mortgage-backed securities trades in the first eight months of 2023 to fund an increase in assets under management to A$18 billion from A$14 billion at the start of the year. La Trobe Financial’s Sydney-based chief financial officer, Martin Barry, says the business outlook is positive.
Latitude Financial’s treasury function has been the nonbank’s North Star in recent years, including when a cyber attack in the first quarter of 2023 put the business in the spotlight and posed a plethora of challenges to its operations. Latitude says the incident reaffirms the importance of good treasury fundamentals as the basis for sound crisis management.
MA Money provides nonconforming home loans, investment property finance and debt consolidation to consumers in Australia. Amid the higher interest rate environment, Akeshni Gour, Sydney-based treasurer at MA Money, highlights the importance of maintaining a diverse approach to funding and origination – and reveals MA Money’s plans to debut in the domestic securitisation market.
Metro Finance has continued to grow its lending book over the past 12 months and its gross origination volume is now approximately A$1.8 billion per annum. More than 90 per cent of the book is commercial loans to SMEs, but Metro expanded into the novated leasing market about 18 months ago and added consumer lending more recently still.