Digital bank Volt snares full ADI licence

Australia’s stubborn but stable banking oligopoly has the first new challenger institution in close to two decades from today, after the Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority graduated Volt from its restricted license P-plates to become a fully licensed ADI (deposit taking institution).

Granting of the licence means that Volt, one of a number of pure digital ‘neo’ banks jockeying for market share in the run-up to open banking and a fully operational New Payments Platform can immediately launch savings and transaction accounts, term deposits, personal loans and home loans.

According to Volt the rollout plan for the above products will occur over 2019, with Volt Co-Founder and chief executive Steve Weston saying that the venture was part of a “vision to introduce genuine competition to banking.”

The newbie institution is trumpeting its out of the box digital prowess as a key differentiator for customers fed up with clunky mainstream bank experiences like onboarding.

“Our onboarding experience will include features such as rapid account opening enabled by smartphone facial recognition technology and simple transfer of direct debits and other payment details from existing bank accounts to a Volt Bank transaction account,” Weston said.

“Our product offer is well progressed and we look forward to welcoming customers in the first half of 2019,” Mr Weston said.”

It’s not just customer money flowing into Volt.

In a funding update the bank said it had now mustered more than $45 million in “equity capital via multiple funding rounds.”

“This includes an $8.5 million investment from Collection House Limited that was allotted today, building on the alliance forged in November 2018 to deliver innovative and ethical financial products.”

“Now that we have been granted our full licence, we will look for further strategic investors to partner with us and support our future growth,” Weston said.