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NAB scoops up neobank 86 400

Australian Financial Review 29/01/2021

National Australia Bank will take over Australian neobank 86 400 in a $220 million deal that is planned to flesh out the major bank’s digital subsidiary, UBank.

In a statement to the share market on Friday, NAB said it had entered into a scheme implementation deal to acquire 100 per cent of the shares in 86 400 Holdings Limited after it launched discussions with the neobank late last year.

NAB, Australia’s third-largest lender by market capitalisation, had taken an 18.3 percent stake in 86 400 in the latest Series B $32 million capital raising. The neobank’s independent directors have recommended NAB acquiring the remaining shares and each 86 400 director has flagged they will vote for the deal.

The deal is subject to an array of approvals, including from the Treasurer, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

As at mid-January, 86 400 had more than 85,000 customers, $375 million and had approved $270 million in residential mortgages. The neobank, which launched in September 2019, employs about 120 people. NAB’s 12-year old UBank brand has more than 600,000 customers.

ACCC chairman Rod Sims has been lobbying the government for tougher anti-merger laws that include stopping the big banks from buying emerging fintechs, to avoid repeating the mistakes that allowed Google and Facebook to hoover up competitors.

Robert Bell, chief executive of 86 400, said existing customers would benefit from NAB’s capital and balance sheet strength and investment spend which would support “accelerated growth and continued innovation”.

“From day one, our purpose has been to help Australians take control of their money,” Mr Bell said. “This will significantly fast-track our growth, propelling our business, customer numbers and balance sheet to a position which would’ve otherwise taken five years.”

The only neobank in Australia to offer home loans, 86 400 has become far more established than rival neobanks, particularly the now-defunct Xinja which handed back its banking license late last year after it burned through shareholder cash without a lending business to offset its deposit arm.

86 400 is an app-first cloud-based platform that offers savings accounts, transaction accounts, term deposits and mortgages while aggregating with other providers to give customers a complete picture of their finances.

The neobank, which is named after the number of seconds in a day, has the unique ability to warn customers of upcoming bills and sends out about 33,000 alerts every day.

The Turnbull and Morrison governments had pushed for greater development of Australia’s fintech industry. Along with Xinja, unrestricted licences were granted in 2019 to challenger banks Judo, Volt and 86 400.

The take-up of neobanking in Australia has been slower than in the UK, where, since the GFC, Britain has seen an influx of neobanks, led by Monzo and Revolut. Nine per cent of the British population – about 6 million people – have opened an account at one of the more than 50 active neobanks.

Speaking to The Australian Financial Review last year, Mr Sims said he was concerned the big four banks would “pick off ” emerging fintech competitors.

“We may have the big banks starting to buy the fintechs,” Mr Sims said at the time. “Is that what we want, the big banks buying the fintechs? I don’t think we do.”

The article mainly focuses on the “takeover” of companies.

Explain what is a company takeover? What interests does the Corporations Act, 2001 (Cth.) seek to protect? Does it make any difference under the Corporations Law if a takeover is conducted via the stock exchange and outside of the stock exchange? [10 marks]