(30 June 2022 – Australia) Neobank Volt has announced it is handing back its banking licence to the Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority (APRA) and returning over A$100 million in deposits to 6000 customers.
Volt Bank’s board decided to cease banking operations after being unable to raise an additional A$200 million in capital across global markets. Several digital-only challenger banks have launched in the last five years focusing on millennials frustrated with the incumbent majors legacy systems.
Volt was the first Neobank to be awarded a restricted banking licence in 2Q 2018 and upgraded to a full banking licence in Q1 2019 followed by Xinja, 86 400 and Judo Bank. Xinja exited banking and returned deposits to its customers under APRA supervision while NAB acquired 86 400 in 4Q 2020.
“All options had been considered before making this difficult decision which was in the best interests of customers. The entire Volt team is deeply disappointed to have reached this point. We are enormously grateful to everyone who believed in what we were trying to achieve and worked tirelessly to make Volt a success” stated Volt CEO, Steve Weston.