Banking News

Judo Bank Announces Leadership Reshuffle

(4 June 2021 – Australia) Judo Bank has announced a reshuffle in its leadership ranks as it switches to a single CEO model.

Joseph Healy will become standalone CEO of the SME challenger Bank while co-founder David Hornery moves to a non-executive board director role.

Launched in 2018 as Judo Capital by predominantly ex-NAB executives, the group operated with dual CEOs in co-founders Joseph Healy and David Hornery. While the pair have headed up the small business banking challenger bank from the outset, especially as it qualified for a banking licence and executed multiple rounds of successful capital raisings, the Bank will now progress with a single CEO model.

“As co-founder and co-CEO, David has been integral to the foundation and growth of Judo from an early-stage start-up into Australia’s leading SME challenger bank, and his transition to the board will allow Judo to continue to benefit from his vast experience, wise counsel and guidance long into the future” stated Mr Hornery.

“Both Joseph and I have always been deeply passionate about supporting small-to-medium-sized business in Australia, it is the backbone of this country, and we have long shared the view that these businesses have been taken for granted by the big banks for far too long. Sitting together in 2015 on a Friday afternoon, we decided to actually do something about it, that there was a real opportunity to purpose build a new bank, from scratch, that restored the craft of real relationship banking” Mr Hornery added.

“Since that first conversation in 2015, we’ve received our banking licence, raised more than $1 billion in capital, built a national footprint with over 280 staff across the country and grown our loan book to over $3 billion in helping Australian SMEs build and grow their businesses. It’s been an amazing journey, and with that team in place, and the bank’s strong market position and growth trajectory, I believe now is the right time for me to transition to a board role with Judo as a non-executive director”.