AVENUE BANK
commitment to better serve Australian businesses .
“ We had a vision to innovate bank guarantees and help Australian businesses ,” Nicolas explains .
“ Bank guarantees are an unloved product . They haven ’ t changed in a very long time . It ’ s a grudge product for big banks . They have to offer it , but they don ’ t focus on it as it ’ s not a priority for them . We wanted to concentrate on helping the SMEs in Australia , they are unloved and we can help do something about that .”
Avenue Bank targets businesses in need of office spaces , warehouses and retail shops . The existing process for obtaining a guarantee can take four to six weeks , often requiring branch visits and dealing with paperbased guarantees .
However , at Avenue Bank , the team completely reimagined this experience .
“ We can issue a bank guarantee in as little as 24 hours , “ Nicolas adds .
Avenue Bank developed a modern digital application form coupled with a highly automated orchestration process in the backend . While further optimisation is always possible , Nicolas and the Avenue team prioritised the most impactful improvements first .
All members of the commercial leasing ecosystem have responded positively to Avenue ’ s innovative bank guarantee for commercial leases . Many were impressed by the speed and seamlessness of Avenue Bank ’ s process , especially those who had previously dealt with traditional banks .
“ We can issue a bank guarantee in as little as 24 hours ”
NICOLAS PARFAIT CIO , AVENUE BANK
Nicolas adds : “ We ’ ve even seen where some people are applying six weeks before they need it because they are used to it taking that long . However with Avenue the application form is super quick to complete as well as the required checks , It ’ s a bit of a shift in getting businesses to realise that it can be that quick and simple . We are also offering them digitally as well as paper based for those that request a paper bank guarantee . We found a niche segment in the market that was ripe for innovation .”
Cloud-driven efficiency Avenue Bank operates with a much leaner team , leveraging cloud providers , like AWS and partners , which also utilise cloud-based solutions .
“ You can launch and run a bank with a really small and focused team due to using cloud platforms and SaaS based partners who also operate in the cloud .
6 avenuebank . com . au