Latitude Financial Services (shortened to Latitude Financial or Latitude) is an Australian

financial services Financial services are service (economics), economic services tied to finance provided by financial institutions. Financial services encompass a broad range of tertiary sector of the economy, service sector activities, especially as concerns finan ...

company with headquarters in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

, also doing business in

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

under the name Gem Finance. Latitude’s core business is in consumer finance through a variety of services including secured and unsecured

personal loans In finance, unsecured debt refers to any type of debt or general obligation that is not protected by a guarantor, or collateralized by a lien on specific assets of the borrower in the case of a bankruptcy or liquidation or failure to meet the te ...

, credit cards,

car loans In finance, a loan is the tender of money by one party to another with an agreement to pay it back. The recipient, or borrower, incurs a debt and is usually required to pay interest for the use of the money. The document evidencing the debt ( ...

and interest free retail finance. it had around a 6% share of Australia’s personal lending market, making it the biggest non-bank lender of consumer credit in Australia.

History

Latitude began as the Australian and New Zealand personal finance and motor dealer finance operations of

Australian Guarantee Corporation Founded in 1921 as Australian Guarantee Company to initially provide finance for purchasers of smaller household items, it progressed into financing motor vehicles and was renamed as Australian Guarantee Corporation (AGC) in 1925. AGC was Australi ...

acquired from

Westpac Westpac Banking Corporation, also known as Westpac, is an Australian multinational banking and financial services company headquartered at Westpac Place in Sydney. Established in 1817 as the Bank of New South Wales, it acquired the Commerc ...

in 2002 by

GE Capital GE Capital was the financial services division of General Electric. Its various units were sold between 2013 and 2021, including the notable spin-off of the North American consumer finance division as Synchrony Financial. Ultimately, only one div ...

. GE Capital sold its Australian and New Zealand business in 2015 to a consortium led by

Deutsche Bank Deutsche Bank AG (, ) is a Germany, German multinational Investment banking, investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange. ...

KKR KKR may refer to: * KKR & Co., a global investment firm *Kolkata Knight Riders, an Indian Premier League franchise * Rheinsberg Nuclear Power Plant (), first nuclear power plant in the former East Germany * Kalkara, Malta, postal code KKR *Kir-Bala ...

and Värde Partners. The business was renamed Latitude Financial Services. On 20 April 2021, Latitude completed an initial public offering at $2.60 per share and became listed on the Australian Stock Exchange. On 24 February 2023, Latitude announced it was ending its Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) service in Australia and New Zealand, effective immediately. On 27 March 2023, Latitude reported to the

Australian Stock Exchange Australian Securities Exchange Ltd (ASX) is an Australian public company that operates Australia's primary securities exchange, the Australian Securities Exchange (sometimes referred to outside of Australia as, or confused within Australia as, ...

that it had a cyber breach involving almost 8 million of Australian and

drivers' licences, thousands of passport numbers, fewer than 100 monthly financial statements, and six million customer records provided before 2013.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 ABC News, also known as ABC News and Current Affairs, is a public news service produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. The service covers both local and world affairs, broadcasting both nationally as ABC News, and across the Asia- ...

, 2023-03-28

References

{{Banking in Australia 2015 establishments in Australia Australian companies established in 2015 Companies based in Melbourne Financial services companies established in 2015 Financial services companies of Australia Kohlberg Kravis Roberts companies