Codat enters Australia and New Zealand

Financial API provider Codat has expanded into Australia and New Zealand, marking its entry into the region through a partnership with Australian challenger Judo Bank.

The London-based fintech has appointed Matthew Tyrrell as APAC commercial director to lead the company’s local operations and said it will invest in its physical presence in Sydney with a number of local hires.

Prior to joining Codat, Tyrrell founded management software start-up CurrencyVue, which was subsequently acquired by Worldfirst.

The new partnership between Judo Bank and Codat will enable the bank’s business customers to digitally share access to their financial statements with Judo in “just a few clicks”, simplifying the exchange of financial information.

Codat said that its universal API provides standardised access to more than 18 accounting platforms – covering 97% of those used by Australian SMEs – banking and commerce systems.

Lisa Frazier, COO at Judo Bank, said: “The rich, real-time data that we’ll be able to access via Codat will support the quality conversations we have with business owners and CFOs, further strengthening these relationships and the proactive advice we give.”

The Codat and Judo Bank integration will be available for SME customers from early 2022.

Codat called Australia “the most advanced in terms of coverage and adoption of cloud accounting platforms”, and said that this was partly due to the recent introduction of Single Touch Payroll (STP) regulations and the development of platforms like Xero.

Tyrrell said: “We know the average Aussie small business now uses more than 40 different applications. Codat is well-positioned to unlock value and utility from these applications.

“At Codat we’ve dubbed this phenomenon Open Finance; a natural progression from Open Banking, that allows SMEs to harness the data from the most important systems they use, like accounting, PoS, and eCommerce platforms. It’s these systems that are the central source of truth for business data, not bank accounts.”

He added: “Ultimately, connectivity to these systems has the greatest potential to reduce the administrative burden for small businesses and drive better access to financial services.”

Earlier in 2021, Codat raised $40 million in a Series B funding round to expand its US presence following the launch of the New York office in January this year.