Technology

NEWS TECHNOLOGY

CREDITORWATCH PRAISES GOVT’S DIGITAL INVESTMENT

CREDIT reporting agency CreditorWatch has welcomed the digital technology initiatives announced in the Federal Budget. The $1.2bn fund for the digital economy strategy has allotted $100m for building digital skills, including a pilot for work-based digital cadetships, $124m for AI investments and $15.3m for e-invoicing. CreditorWatch chief economist Harley Dale said, “It’s especially pleasing to see the federal government allocate funding to e-invoicing, which will help speed up payment times across every industry.”

UBANK RAISES ITS LVR THRESHOLD, WAIVES LMI

UBANK is offering a solution for borrowers who are struggling to save a large enough deposit to get onto the property ladder. It has raised its LVR threshold to 85% and waived the requirement to pay LMI. This new proposition by the bank aims to help bring first home buying business its way. “We look forward to continuing to offer really sharp, customerfocused home loan products as we move forward with our 86 400 partnership and begin working with their broker lending business,” said UBank CEO Philippa Watson.

“We really listened to what our brokers wanted from us, and this [broker submission platform] is a direct response”

Fanee Amanatidis General manager, Agiliti Capital

Fanee Amanatidis, general manager, Agiliti Capital

ASSET FINANCE PROVIDER REBRANDS, LAUNCHES NEW BROKER PLATFORM

Melbourne-based NLG Leasing has changed its name to Agiliti Capital and upgraded its broking platform to streamline applications

A well-established company in Australia’s asset finance space has rebranded and launched a new platform for brokers. NLG Leasing has changed its name to Agiliti Capital and its new broker submission platform will streamline their applications.

“‘Agiliti Capital’ reinforces our value proposition of being agile in our service and our offering,” said general manager Fanee Amanatidis. “It positions our company where we are now and where we’re heading in the future. The spelling with the three i’s was a conscious decision to resemble our three pillars of strength: knowledge, expertise and service. The [word] ‘capital’ reflects the broader market that we play in.”

Agiliti’s new custom-built Swift submission platform represents a simpler proposition for asset finance brokers, using AI to make the loan application process far more accurate, intuitive and efficient.

“The best way to describe it is three words: easy, easy and easy,” said Amanatidis. “We really listened to what our brokers wanted from us, and this is a direct response. They wanted an easier way to refer their clients to us.

“We switched over to a new platform 18 months ago, and it was fantastic, but it was specifically an asset finance subject matter experience platform. That is what we do, but trying to get our members to jump into that was a bit much: they didn’t want to have to learn another system when they had their own. Hence, Swift came along and made it really easy.

“What our brokers wanted was fast responses in real time, to be able to just name a number for a spot and refer and then jump into Swift for full app commercial deals. The transparency that both will offer is an advantage. Getting notifications of progress on clients’ deals straight into the inbox was really important, rather than having to use different platforms.”

She adds, “It offers everything you would expect in today’s age for a client portal, an interview mode and all the APIs you could like from third party providers, such as bank statements or Equifax.”

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT’S $1.2BN INVESTMENT IN DIGITAL ECONOMY

$100m

to support digital skills, including a new work-based digital cadetships pilot program

$12.7m

to help SMEs build their digital capacity through expansion of the Digital Solutions – Australian Small Business Advisory Service

$124.1m

to build artificial intelligence capabilities, including a National Artificial Intelligence Centre

$111.3m

to accelerate rollout of the Consumer Data Right in banking, energy and telecoms

30%

digital games tax offset to support Australia’s involvement in the $250bn global game development market

$50m

to enhance cybersecurity in government, data centres and telecoms networks