Tech: Wizr shares continue 2020 rally as loan growth ramps up

Fintech consumer lending platform Wisr (ASX:WZR) released updated loan data this morning for the December quarter.

The company said it booked $31.6m in new loans for the three months to December 31, up 36 per cent from September ($23.2m).

Annual loan originations amounted to $163.8m for the 2019 year, as the company looks to build momentum in the consumer finance market. Competitors in the space include SocietyOne and Ratesetter.

On the move

After trading in a narrow range throughout the second half of last year, WZR shares are on the move in 2020. The stock climbed again at the opening bell to reach 25.5c in morning trade, up from 15.8c on December 31.

The company operates a capital-light model, in which larger lenders provide the underlying loan funding. Last October, Wizr announced a new $50m lending facility with NAB, with the potential to increase the program size to $200m.

CEO Anthony Nantes said the deal effectively tripled the average margin to Wizr on each new loan written, lowering its per-unit economic costs as it continued to drive customer acquisition.

Just before Christams, Nantes signed a new contract with the company which included the potential to earn an additional 36,660,000 performance rights if vesting conditions are met.

Along with its core lending program, Wizr offers other services including a repayment platform via its app where customers can automatically round up spare change on purchases and use the money to pay down their loans.

In other ASX tech news today:

Cyber safety company Family Zone (ASX:FZO) provided a trading update, where it said growth in the number of new school clients continued to rise steadily. The company said it added another 183 school clients in the quarter, bringing its total to 1,168 school clients — an annual gain of 89 per cent. Shares in the company were unchanged at 17c.

TZ Limited (ASX:TZL) announced that its US subsidiary had won a tender to provide its Smart Locker technology to a “AAA rated US bank”. The company didn’t disclose the commercial terms of the deal, but flagged a global rollout of up to 54 locations and said the pipeline for further US deals remained strong. Shares in TZ Limited rose 5 per cent to 10.5c, but are down from 12-month highs above 25c reached last March.