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Q: What’s the greatest challenge for financial services in Australia right now?
A: Taking a more macro view, I would argue that the full impacts of the coronavirus and the bushfires are yet to be realised. Many Moneytech clients import goods from China and are currently having trouble getting access to stock due to factory closures. As an organisation, we have reached out to our customers who may be affected by these events, and worked through how we can best support them. We have contacted all of our import customers to understand if the Chinese factory closures have, or will, impact their businesses. Depending on the outcome, we have offered loan repayment support by deferring future principal repayments until trading conditions improve for them.
Q: Do you think the industry is ready for open banking?
A: The finance industry, like any other industry, can benefit from more competition to deliver better services and products to Australians. Open banking is the first application of the Consumer Data Right by the ACCC; later this will come to include personal information held by utilities, etc. For finance, specifically, it will mean seamless trusted third-party access to information currently held by banks. In practice this means faster onboarding, smoother credit checks and an overall better customer experience. Our customers are ready for this and so are we.
Q: What was your first job?
A: It was an IT support apprenticeship. I joined straight out of school and did that for a couple of years before going travelling and then working for Lloyds in the UK.
Q: What are your top survival tips for working in finance?
A: Be resilient and have thick skin! Most loans have many ups and downs throughout the application process. When you face adversity on a transaction, be sure not to bury your head in the sand; instead, work through the issues to create a positive outcome for both you and the customer.
Q: What’s one thing, personal or professional, that you hope to achieve before 2021?
A: The launch of Moneytech’s amazing new Equipment Import Finance product! We are excited to work with brokers and aggregators to get the message out there, as these relationships are extremely important to us.
