flexigroup
About flexigroup
Flexigroup is a diversified full-service payments company with leading offerings in buy-now, pay-later (BNPL), revolving credit and SME finance. Serving a broad footprint of millennial spenders through to young families and SMEs, it facilitates purchases for 2.3 million customers.
Since announcing its transformation strategy in 2019, flexigroup has delivered on key strategic pillars including simplifying the business and achieving double-digit volume growth across its continuing products. As the final step in the simplification journey, flexigroup products will unify under the company’s most recognised and loved brand, humm.
Ownership and history
Flexigroup is a diversified financial-services company listed on the Australian Securities Exchange since 2006. Its beginnings were as an issuer of a simple lease product to Australian SMEs through office-equipment vendors. It has grown to offer a range of payment solutions to individuals and businesses across Australia, New Zealand and Ireland.
Asset performance
Flexigroup’s asset portfolio is well diversified across its key product offerings. Asset performance has been strong and stable across asset types and geographies for an extended period. This includes the assets securitised under its public securitisation programmes – Flexi ABS and Q Card Trust – which have shown extremely stable performance over a number of years.
SIZE OF LOAN BOOK | A$2.6BN |
MAKEUP OF LOAN BOOK |
CREDIT CARDS: 50% |
GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION OF LOAN BOOK | AUSTRALIA: 65% NEW ZEALAND AND IRELAND: 35% |
OUTSTANDING DEBT ISSUANCE | PUBLIC ABS TRANSACTIONS: A$1BN PRIVATE SYNDICATED AND BILATERAL FACILITIES: A$1.3BN |
In response to COVID-19, flexigroup took a proactive approach to assisting customers, including an outbound contact programme for those who requested hardship assistance to discuss their financial position and offer support. The number of customers seeking hardship relief has returned to pre-COVID-19 levels with more than 50% of those who entered hardship as a result of COVID-19 resuming normal payment arrangements as at flexigroup’s FY20 results announcement.
Flexigroup continues to focus on developing new and innovative market opportunities to drive growth and further diversify its asset portfolio. Its latest payment solution, bundll, launched in Australia in February 2020 as the first BNPL product allowing customers to buy everything, everywhere and pay later.
Funding strategy
Flexigroup maintains a conservative yet dynamic funding strategy to retain committed, flexible and cost-effective funding facilities for all scale businesses, combined with an active debt capital markets presence in Australia and New Zealand.
Flexigroup has strong relationships with domestic and international banking institutions that provide a range of committed funding facilities. It also has well-established public securitisation programmes in Australia and New Zealand.
In Australia, flexigroup has been a regular issuer of ABS under its Flexi ABS programme. It securitises assets from its consumer BNPL and its commercial SME portfolios.
In 2016, flexigroup was the first Australian nonbank corporation to issue green ABS certified by Climate Bonds Initiative. Flexigroup has now issued more than A$375 million of certified green bonds across five capital-markets transactions and has continued to bring innovative deals to the green-bond market. This includes the first Australian securitisation transaction to offer green bonds across all rated tranches.
In New Zealand, flexigroup’s Q Card Trust programme provides capital-efficient funding to support its New Zealand credit-cards business. The programme continues to be well supported by a growing investor base with more than NZ$1.2 billion of issuance to date. Flexigroup’s NZ$300 million transaction under the Q Card Trust programme in August 2019 is the largest transaction executed under the programme and in the New Zealand ABS market as a whole.
Flexigroup continues to explore opportunities to strengthen its capital-markets offering and further diversify investor appetite for Australian and New Zealand ABS transactions.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
Bianca Spata
Group Treasurer
+61 416 062 039
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Dennis Koh
Senior Securitisation Manager
+61 421 381 810
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
www.flexigroup.com.au
nonbank Yearbook 2021
KangaNews's sixth annual guide to the business and funding trends in Australia's nonbank financial-institution sector.