Codat expands to ANZ and announces partnership with challenger bank Judo Bank to enable SMEs to tap into financial services minus the paperwork.
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, OCTOBER 22, 2021: Codat has today announced its foray into the Australian market. Codat will kick off its expansion with a strategic partnership with Judo Bank to simplify the way Australian businesses share vital information with financial service providers.
The Judo Bank partnership will enable Judo business customers to digitally share access to their financial statements with Judo in just a few clicks, replacing the frustrating back and forth of exchanging financial information over email.
Codat’s business data APIs provide standardized access to accounting platforms, (covering 97% of those used by Australian SMEs), banking, and commerce systems.
Codat’s technology is used by over 175 clients to power a wide variety of use cases across sectors. Aussie veterinary software platform Petbooqz uses Codat to push sales data into its customers’ accounting software, while Comma uses the technology to power its end-to-end payments process. It is also utilized by lenders, such as Swoop, to provide their customers with faster and more personalized finance
The London-born fintech platform has identified the Australian SME market as a business opportunity, evidenced by its recent growth. Recent ABS figures show from FY 20-21, there was a 3.8% (87,806) increase in the number of businesses, with a total of 365,480 new businesses cropping up, most of whom will rely on some form of accounting software.
The company noted Australia is the most advanced in terms of coverage and adoption of cloud accounting platforms, in part due to the recent introduction of Single Touch Payroll (STP) regulations and the pioneering development of platforms like Xero. Codat believes this level of market saturation presents an increased opportunity for the application of SME data and is now investing in its physical presence in Sydney with a number of local hires.
Codat has appointed seasoned entrepreneur Matthew Tyrrell as APAC Commercial Director to lead the company’s local operations. Before joining Codat, Tyrrell founded the management software start-up, CurrencyVue, which was subsequently acquired by Worldfirst (Ant Group). He brings over 15 years of technology and financial services expertise to the Codat team.
Commenting on the expansion, Matthew Tyrrell, APAC Commercial Director at Codat, said the Australian market presented unique opportunities as an emerging growth market:
“We know the average Aussie small business now uses more than 40 different applications. Codat is well-positioned to unlock value and utility from these applications.
“At Codat, we’ve dubbed this phenomenon Open Finance; a natural progression from Open Banking, that allows SMEs to harness the data from the most important systems they use, like accounting, PoS, and eCommerce platforms. It’s these systems that are the central source of truth for business data, not bank accounts. Ultimately, connectivity to these systems has the greatest potential to reduce the administrative burden for small businesses and drive better access to financial services.
“The proliferation of financial services in the local market, plus the coming of a second fintech wave fuelled by Open Banking and initiatives like NPP, place Australian fintech innovators in a prime position to capitalize on Open Finance and offer seamless customer experiences. Through the breadth and depth of connectivity we offer across multiple data sources, Codat plans to become the platform that Australian fintechs of the future are built upon.”
Lisa Frazier, COO at Judo Bank added:
“Our purpose at Judo is to be Australia’s most trusted SME business bank and to serve small and medium businesses via relationship-led banking empowered by technology. The rich, real-time data that we’ll be able to access via Codat will support the quality conversations we have with business owners and CFOs, further strengthening these relationships and the proactive advice we give.”
Codat’s APIs powers the services of five of the world’s largest financial institutions, 12 technology unicorns, and many specialized SME providers. These include Zettle by Paypal, Finstro, and Cloudfloat.
The Codat and Judo Bank integration will be available for SME customers to leverage from early 2022.