Australia welcomes its first neobank, Volt Bank

Yesterday, Volt Bank Limited, was officially granted its full licence making it the first retail challenger bank since the early 2000s.

Offering the same security and product offering as a traditional bank, Volt Bank is different in that its digital first premise will allow the bank to reduce fees, offer competitive interest rates and provides customers to access a suite of additional tools to help with budgeting or getting better deals on regular expenses like utilities, phone and insurance.

Our team worked closely with Volt Bank towards receiving Australia’s first restricted ADI licence in May 2018 and we have continued to support the management team to achieve this important milestone.

The Australian Prudential and Regulatory Association (APRA) has very clear and defined requirements for banks looking to receive a licence. This is to protect consumers, as well as the bank, and is why there hasn’t been a new retail-focused bank since the early 2000s.

We are working with a number of neobanks looking to receive their licence from APRA – signalling a much-needed change in a national banking sector which has become bogged down in legacy issues and traditionally slow to adapt to changing customer needs.

Now that Volt Bank has received their full licence, the bank has launched Volt Labs – aimed at designing and co-creating products with early customers, before launching products throughout 2019.

For more information visit the Volt Bank website.

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Further enquiries, please contact:

Therese Raft
National Communications Manager
Grant Thornton Australia
T+61 2 8297 2724
E therese.raft@au.gt.com