Manager said the figure is a “significant milestone”
Personal lender Harmoney has released its figures for the quarter ended March 31, 2021, and has hit a total of NZ$2 billion in total loan originations across Australia and New Zealand to date.
Managing director David Stevens said this number represents a “significant milestone” for the group, which also saw loans to new customers rise by 60% to $44 million for the March quarter. Total loan originations for the period were $120 million - a $4.8 million increase on the previous corresponding period.
Commenting on Harmoney’s growth, Stevens said that its progress in New Zealand had been particularly encouraging.
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“There are two key reasons to be pleased about our performance in New Zealand,” Stevens said.
“When adjusted for seasonality – where the January to March quarter usually has lower demand coming off pre-Christmas highs – we’ve seen strong momentum in the recovery continue through the quarter. Secondly, we’ve been able to capture market share as the growing preference for online lending specialists continues – especially those that are well established, like Harmoney.
“This is helping us to establish a dominant presence in online specialists, and a compelling complement to someone’s traditional bank.”
“We’ve done a great job of becoming synonymous with online lending in New Zealand,” he added.
“We’ve been a pioneer in this space for a long time and as more people embrace the convenience and flexibility that online lending delivers, we’ll see the market continue to grow.”
Stevens said that the online lending space will continue to deliver “even more value” to customers through new and reimagined experiences, and the COVID-19 pandemic had significantly accelerated that transition.
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Going forward, he said Harmony will be looking to invest in its key platforms and increase its efficiency in assessing loan applications.
“It’s vitally important that we continue to get better and better at assessing borrowers so we can approve more borrowers, albeit prudently, and guided by responsible lending principles,” he commented.
“It’s disappointing when we can’t approve a person for a loan; they’ve come to us for a need, and we will continue to focus on figuring out ways to make things work. Investing in our key platform systems so we can help more and more people is the win-win we’re chasing down.”
