Latitude Financial Services

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Latitude Financial Services
Company typePublic
ASX: LFS
IndustryFinancial services, Insurance
Founded2015
HeadquartersMelbourne, Australia
Area served
Australia; New Zealand
Key people
Products
Decrease AU$709.1 million
Total assetsDecrease AU$7,920.7 million
OwnerDeutsche Bank, KKR and Värde Partners
Websitelatitudefinancial.com.au

Latitude Financial Services (shortened to Latitude Financial or Latitude) is an Australian financial services company with headquarters in Melbourne, Victoria, also doing business in New Zealand under the name Gem Finance. Latitude’s core business is in consumer finance through a variety of services including unsecured personal loans, credit cards, car loans, personal insurance and interest free retail finance.[1] As of 2018 it had around a 6% share of Australia’s personal lending market, making it the biggest non-bank lender of consumer credit in Australia.[2]

History

Latitude began as the Australian and New Zealand personal finance and motor dealer finance operations of Australian Guarantee Corporation acquired from Westpac in 2002 by GE Capital.[3]

GE Capital sold its Australian and New Zealand business in 2015 to a consortium led by Deutsche Bank, KKR and Värde Partners.[4] The business was renamed Latitude Financial Services.[1]

On 20 April 2021, Latitude completed an initial public offering at $2.60 per share and became listed on the Australian Stock Exchange.[5]

On 24 February 2023, Latitude announced they were ending their Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) service in Australia and New Zealand, effective immediately.[6]

On 27 March 2023, Latitude reported to the Australian Stock Exchange that it had a cyber breach involving almost 8 million of Australian and New Zealand drivers licenses, thousands of passport numbers, fewer than 100 monthly financial statements, and 6 million customer records provided before 2013.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b Drummond, Shaun (2015-11-04). "GE Capital Finance to be renamed Latitude Financial". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2018-10-19.
  2. ^ "Rebranded Latitude fighting the big four over personal lending". Australian Financial Review. 2016-12-19. Retrieved 2018-10-19.
  3. ^ Acquirer: GE Capital Australia; Target: AFC Finance Ltd Australian Competition & Consumer Commission 9 May 2002
  4. ^ "GE Finance sold in record-setting deal". Sydney Morning Herald. 2015-03-16. Retrieved 2015-04-11.
  5. ^ Wood, Mike. "Latitude valued at $2.8 billion as IPO hits ASX". www.brokernews.com.au. Retrieved 2023-06-16.
  6. ^ "Latitude closes its BNPL service in Australia and New Zealand | Media Releases". www.latitudefinancial.com.au. Retrieved 2024-04-09.
  7. ^ Latitude Financial customers frustrated at lack of communication after millions of personal records stolen in cyber attack, Kate Ainsworth and Emilia Terzon, ABC News Online, 2023-03-28
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