Athena is delivering a better value mortgage to borrowers and investors alike, by focusing on efficiency through its digital origination channels. The savings are passed back via attractive mortgage rates for borrowers and superior returns for investors.

Athena is powered by Australia’s first cloud-native mortgage platform, which radically simplifies the mortgage value chain to deliver breakthrough efficiency, client experience and agility. The group aims to improve customer lifetime value and drive significant reductions in origination and servicing costs relative to big-bank legacy processes.

Athena was founded in July 2017 by Nathan Walsh and Michael Starkey. Since public launch, in February 2019, the group’s seamless digital experience and highly competitive interest rates have resonated with customers. Athena has now received more than A$13 billion of applications and settled more than A$3 billion of loans in its first 2.5 years of operation.

Athena is led by an executive team with deep experience in financial services and delivering innovative customer propositions. The company is backed by a leading group of strategic partners including Square Peg Capital, Macquarie Bank, Hostplus, AirTree Ventures, Australian Super and SunSuper.

Athena competes directly with major Australian banks for prime mortgages in capital cities and major regional centres. Loans are subject to a strict 80% maximum loan-to-value ratio, with restrictions on postcodes and apartment lending.

A focus on super-prime mortgages coupled with tight operations has resulted in very strong book performance throughout the recent COVID-19-affected times. Athena currently has no arrears beyond 30 days past due and only progress on its diversified funding strategy over the past 12 months. The group has now sold several loan pools, totalling A$900 million, to authorised deposit-taking institutions and external investors, including a multiyear forward-flow deal.

Athena also has regular term issuance as a key part of its long-term plans and is well progressed toward a first public RMBS deal in early 2022. This would represent a key milestone in providing a wider range of institutional investors with access to high-quality mortgage assets.

Athena has developed a flexible funding model backed by a funding-aware platform that can cater to different types of wholesale investor and provide them with real-time portfolio reporting.

In addition to Athena’s five established warehouse facilities with domestic and foreign banks, the group has delivered strong progress on its diversified funding strategy over the past 12 months. The group has now sold several loan pools, totalling A$900 million, to authorised deposit-taking institutions and external investors, including a multiyear forward-flow deal.

Athena also has regular term issuance as part of its long-term plans and is well progressed toward a first public RMBS deal in early 2022. This would represent a key milestone in providing a wider range of institutional investors with access to high-quality mortgage assets.

Michael Starkey
Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer
+61 412 232 082
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Neil Murchie
Chief Investment Officer
+61 412 801 765
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www.athena.com.au