Judo Bank chief executive Joseph Healy is not your typical start-up founder, and nor does he say the things you generally expect to hear from senior Australian bankers about the housing market.
“This is a business for grown-ups, it’s not for people who’ve got a piece of technology and an app, and a black t-shirt and torn jeans - this is for serious people,” says Healy, who has worked in banking for more than three decades. “There is no way in the world that that does not represent a significant systemic risk, because if there’s a correction in the housing market, that spills over into the wider economy, and of course impacts the SME economy,” he says.
Importantly, Healy stresses he is not predicting a big market slump - he says he does not have a forecast for where prices will go. “I’m not forecasting a big correction, I’m simply highlighting this segment of the economy probably represents the biggest single risk to the economy,” he says.Nor is he dismissive of technology and fintech - indeed he thinks there will be far more disruption in banking.