Regional Australia Bank is breaking strategic ground in partnership with Douugh, a financial wellness fintech cranking up in the US and soon to launch in Australia.
A A$6 million capital raising for ZipTel under a public offer closed “at the maximum stated [and] the acquisition of Douugh is materially complete”, the now former software business told the ASX yesterday morning.
ZipTel and the ASX are finalising terms for a relisting.
An unproven challenger in the congested “wellness” segment, Douugh positions itself more as analyst, resource and guide than anything that might be styled as robo-advice.
In Australia, Douugh’s key competitors are Up, Revolut, Xinja, Volt, 86400, Raiz and Spaceship, the prospectus said. Hay and who knows how many more are waiting in the wings.
It has two banking partners, Choice Bank in the US and Regional Australia Bank.
RAB must now be in the banking-as-a-service game and the bank’s CEO, Kevin Dupe, was all smiles talking with Banking Day yesterday.
“We’ve set up all the infrastructure and production design. We haven’t delivered them any services yet.
“We’ll be doing the Debit Mastercard and a line of credit.
Dure said he liked “to think of that as $50 million in a year or two,” (on a $2.5 billion balance sheet).
“It’s not going to be a significant part of the business. But we’ll learn so much from Andy Taylor and his team.”