Credit Intelligence’s appointment of Will Banks as COO will support and expedite its BNPL offering in the region and globally.

Conglomerate fintech financial group Credit Intelligence (ASX:CI1) has made critical steps to beef up its operations, as it looks to expand market share of its BNPL and credit services offerings.

The company has appointed a new Chief Operating Officer (COO), Will Banks, to support its revenue growth and business expansion plans, which have grown significantly in the past 12 months.

In a separate announcement, CI1 also said it has completed the acquisition of  Hong Kong-based OneStep Information Technology, giving the company immediate access to over 20,000 corporate clients who use OneStep’s corporate services.

 

New COO

The new COO, Will Banks, has over 20 years’ experience in the fintech and banking industry in senior leadership roles.

He was most recently the CEO of Challenger Capital, Daytek Capital and IQ Option Ltd.

Hailing originally from England, he has extensive banking experience, and has worked in Europe and Australia with global banks such HSBC Investment Bank, Banco Santander, Deutsche Bank and Lloyds Banking Group.

He’s also the co-founder of DayTek Capital, an Australian venture that develops a range of digital banking services in both fiat and crypto spaces. The company was granted an Australian Financial Services (AFS).

CI1 says that Banks was the first migrant from Europe to be granted permanent residency to Australia via the Distinguishing Talent Visa Program.

The program aims to attract overseas talents in the fintech sector, for which Banks was selected due to his international reputation.

Banks believes he can make a significant contribution to CI1, especially in the BNPL space where he thinks the company could expand globally.

“There are a number of areas where I feel we can gain a significant share of the market, such as BNPL and business lending.”

“I believe we can offer these on a global scale, but at the same time differentiating ourselves, by offering unique and alternative financial products that are tailored to our customer’s financial situations and interests,” Banks commented.

CI1 CEO, Jimmie Wong, said that Banks was his first choice.

“CI1 conducted a thorough search for a Group COO and from several exceptional candidates, Will was our immediate choice,” Wong said.

 

OneStep Information acquisition

Along with the COO appointment, CI1 also announced that it has completed the acquisition of Hong Kong-based fintech company, OneStep Information Technology.

The acquisition was first announced in early May, where CI1 would be paying $2 million in cash and scrip for a 60 per cent share of OneStep.

OneStep provides 15 different corporate services to over 20,000 Hong Kong companies – which include company secretary services, bookkeeping, auditing and trademark registration services.

The platform is also developing a BNPL service that will allow clients to settle their on-demand corporate and utility bills in instalments, and includes an application programming interface (API) to link with third-party platforms to help users pay for these services.

The services could also be expanded to different jurisdictions including Australia, the UK, Singapore and Malaysia.

Credit Intelligence’s core offerings include a debt-restructuring service in Hong Kong, and credit services to SMEs in Singapore.

The company is  fast developing its flagship BNPL services, YOLO,  an AI-based platform developed in collaboration with the University of Technology Sydney.

The YOLO platform aims to shake up the market by providing a 24/7 loan service to SMEs and approving them within minutes.

This article was developed in collaboration with Credit Intelligence, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.  

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.