New ground has been broken in the property sector, with the first incidence of a lender entering the self-managed super space.
Blue Crane Capital, a fintech specialising in property finance, has announced that it will branch out into the self-managed super fund (SMSF) sector, enabling the over 600,000 Australians in charge of their own retirement schemes to compare and contrast interest rates and gain access to finance.
Blue Crane’s product, known as SMSFr8, is free at the point of use and is designed for the SMSF market, which currently stands at an estimated $822 billion and close to a quarter of the entire super sector.
“We built SMSFr8 to empower SMSF borrowers and deliver enhanced transparency, particularly around more complex commercial lending,” explained Chris Hall (pictured), managing director at Blue Crane.
“Now, borrowers can instantly assess their rate to ensure it’s competitive.
“The timing is perfect for this platform. We’ve seen a significant uptake in commercial SMSF lending spurred by the SIS Act changes with business owners leveraging tax incentives and opting to buy their commercial premises and continue to rent it from their SMSF vehicle.
“Unless SMSFs are considering the complete lender market, they run the risk of paying too much interest – SMSFr8 is a disruptor here and will deliver complete rate transparency to SMSF borrowers.
“Regardless of what stage borrowers are at in the lending process – whether it’s a quick sanity check on an existing rate or they are curious to find the best interest rate available – SMSFr8 delivers peace of mind and greater bargaining power.”
The new tech was designed by Incapsica, a development firm linked to Stamford Capital, the sister company of Blue Crane.
According to Incapsica director Baz Brown, the product was designed to provide maximum value to customers with minimum effort.
“We went with a minimal design and execution, allowing the user to focus on each question at hand,” he said.
“Meanwhile, we needed a backend that did the hard work: calculating each answer into the equation, but also allowing for formulations to be adjusted based on industry trends and fluctuations.
“Another consideration was mobile. We wanted SMSFr8 to be responsive and easily accessible – in the pockets of borrowers everywhere.”
