Australian fintech company Joust has announced it is merging with LoanDolphin to establish Joust as Australia’s leading online home loan auction platform. 

The merger combines the startups’ revolutionary online market-place platforms which connect home loan customers directly with lenders and brokers who bid for the customer with the best home loan rate.

"The beauty of the merger is LoanDolphin has the good relationships and strong technology with the mortgage brokers and Joust has the good relationships with the banks," said Head of Sales Mark Bevan to WILLIAMS MEDIA.

"When you put the two together, it will integrate the technologies of the banks and brokers."

The reverse auction model saves borrowers time and money and enables any lender to access customers fairly and on the same terms. 

Since they were both founded in 2015, the companies have processed $3.3 billion worth of loan opportunities and reduced the average customer’s interest rate by 0.74 per cent.

This equates to an average saving of $3,348 per year for each refinance customer, or $279 per month. 

Leading Joust’s scaling up process is CEO Carl Hammerschmidt who has 20 years’ experience leading digital transformation, growth and strategy for media businesses such as SBS, Nine and Bauer, as well as State Government. 

“Both Joust and LoanDolphin have played an important role in creating new and innovative ways for Australians to get a great deal on their home loan," said Mr Hammerschmidt. 

"The combination of our technology, data, and people, best positions Joust to deliver exciting new opportunities and innovations to the home loan market.”

Both companies were formed by ex-banking executives. Joust was formed in 2015 by Mark Bevan (Westpac, CBA) and Richard Hockney (NAB, Westpac) who saw an opportunity to create an auction model that optimised competitive tension to get low rates for home loan customers, and the best prospects for banks. 

LoanDolphin saw Rod Dutra (St George, Westpac) and Ranin Mendis (Westpac, BT) create a similar product offering to Joust where customers input their details and received bids from lenders and brokers. 

The two companies considered a merger when they met at Sydney FinTech hub Stone and Chalk.

In discussing similar problems and opportunities, the businesses quickly realised the value of the merger, how their business models complemented each other, and the scale that they could achieve together. 

"Our strategic objective is to integrate the two technologies in the next two months," said Mr Bevan to WILLIAMS MEDIA.

"The scale will applications being processed twice as quickly in half the time."

The first release for the newly merged businesses is ‘Joust Instant Match’ which takes in customer details and provides them with the most-competitive loan options instantly. 

“With the release of Instant Match, we are able to service customers who are looking for an immediate solution based on suitability, while the Joust Marketplace will offer a more comprehensive and competitive process," said Mr Hammerschmidt.

"Through both products Lenders will also be able to better target customers based on their needs such as demographic, geographic and loan type. 

“Now is the perfect time for the merger, with record low rates meaning customers can get a really good deal on their home loans using a competitive, transparent platform. 

“People have been getting incredible rates as low as 2.09 percent depending on the circumstances.” 

Ranin Mendis, previously Co-Founder & CEO of LoanDolphin, now Head of Revenue and Operations for Joust said in this challenging growth environment where the duration of customer relationships are shortening for lenders, cost-of-acquisition is a major issue. 

“In March we saw record customer volumes, and over 70 percent of that was for refinance on an average loan size of more than $500,000," said Mr Mendis.

"With our newly merged platforms, data sets and unique customer experience, we can instantly increase reach for lenders with high intent borrowers, and ensure they reach the right customer at the right time with the right solution.”

Find out more about Joust here.

This is a sponsored article.

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