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While Bank of Queensland (ASX:BOQ) reported a profit slip on Wednesday – the first bank to do so in the first quarterly reporting season of 2024 – Judo Bank (ASX:JDO) reported a happier story.
Five years after first winning an APRA licence to act as a bank, Judo Bank’s lending book has officially hit AUD$10B.
According to Judo, this reflects a growth rate of 135% per year since obtaining a banking greenlight in April of 2019.
That should enough to garner interest – especially given Judo managed to do this through the COVID years, which were probably the closest thing modern readers will ever get to living through a plague.
Judo chief Chris Bayliss highlighted loans going to small-to-medium size businesses in particular. Unlike BOQ, Judo isn’t heavily exposed to the mortgage market at this time.
“We have clearly proven the value of our specialist small and medium-sized business (SME) lending value proposition, which is built on strong relationships with experienced business bankers, who understand their customers’ needs and are empowered to make lending decisions,” Bayliss said.
“Alongside this, we have also built a multi-award-winning deposit franchise. Our term deposit balance is now $7.5 billion.”
Bayliss also suggested that Judo’s performance since 2019 puts it in a class of its own, commenting that no other bank has been able to achieve the same metrics.
“Judo Bank is no longer a start-up, and as we move now from building to scaling our bank, our opportunities will grow. We are an established player in the Australian banking landscape,” he added.
Should the market accept these statements as truth, it’s possible we could see Judo Bank become a favoured player in the space – just yesterday, UBS issued a call of caution on Australian banks.
Net interest margins have been the subjects of scrutiny across the Big 4 in recent years as tailwinds in the first few years of COVID have turned to headwinds, and as the major commercial banks become ever more vicious in their competition.
With that said, a look at Commonwealth’s recent share price history suggests that Australians love a household name bank no matter what analysts predict.
JDO shares closed on Tuesday at $1.30.
