Australia’s rapidly expanding markets has now overtaken the U.S. in terms of FinTech Adoption (according to Noah Breslow, Chief Executive of U.S. SME lending company, OnDeck Capital).
Breslow says that in the Asia-Pacific region, Australia is now the second-largest alternative finance market.
“We are looking at an industry that did $10 million of annual volume – these are numbers from KPMG in 2013, and in 2016 that had grown to $220 million,”
“Based on our own growth and the growth of other players in the industry collectively, 2018 could see around $700 million of annual volume just here in Australia”.
– Noah Breslow, Chief Executive of OnDeck Capital
Opportunities in Australia
OnDeck is a U.S. based alternative lender that has entered the Australian market, seeing the opportunities that exist here.
Breslow says that the big difference between Australia and the U.S., is that the U.S. has more than 6,000 banks.
In contrast, Australia has fewer banks and a concentrated market, meaning there are less small business lending options on the market.
This means there is an opportunity for alternative lenders like OnDeck, to fill this gap with their offerings.
Most Australian small business owners have a positive outlook because of the rapidly expanding Australian economy. This in turn means more people are willing to look for ways to obtain loans to fund their business ventures.
Breslow also says that the online lending market in Australia has become more competitive in the past four years. This is likely attributable in part, to the opportunities that exist in this space.
Breslow also says:
“What we haven’t yet seen is a difference of products. Most people are ordering similar products, but you differentiate on service, on process and credit model to stand out.”
Furthermore, Cameron Poolman (Chief Executive at OnDeck Australia) says that Australian small businesses are fairly similar to U.S. small businesses.
Australian start-up Credible raises $67 million, targeting the U.S. student loan category
On the other hand, Australian start-up Credible (founded by Stephen Dash) has seen the reverse.
From Australia, Dash started an online lending company that targets U.S. student loans.
In the prior financial year alone, Credible turned over $19.8 million USD.
“We got started in the student loan category. We give borrowers the ability to see options from multiple lenders and then we help them through the process of origination. We are helping the borrower through basically 90 per cent of the origination process.”
– Stephen Dash, Founder of Credible
When asked about the difference between U.S. and Australian markets, Dash says that there is a lot more fragmentation in the U.S. with many alternative lenders.
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