How Smart Compliance is Driving Growth for Non-Bank Lenders

Australia’s non-bank lenders have become vital players in the financial ecosystem, offering flexible credit options across mortgage lending, SME finance, personal loans, and salary advance models. But with growth comes complexity: these lenders face increasing regulatory scrutiny, higher fraud risks, and rising customer expectations around digital speed and user experience.

The mission is clear: deliver seamless, secure, and scalable onboarding and monitoring experiences  without breaking compliance or trust.

The Compliance vs. Experience Balancing Act 

For non-bank lenders, the biggest challenge lies in balancing compliance requirements with customer expectations for speed and simplicity.

That tension is especially visible in sectors like:

• SME lending where KYB and UBO verification can delay funding.
• Consumer loans where identity fraud and loan stacking threaten profitability.
• Home loans where brokers introduce variability and responsible lending checks add steps.
• Auto finance where sales often happen at the point of purchase, demanding real-time approvals.

Without the right infrastructure, lenders face drop-offs, fraud losses, operational bottlenecks, and regulatory risk.

Why Regulatory Readiness Is Now a Competitive Advantage

Regulators like AUSTRAC and ASIC are now zeroing in on non-bank lenders. AUSTRAC assesses the sector’s money-laundering and terrorism-financing risk as medium, with fraud (especially identity fraud and early loan repayments) a primary concern. Notably, just four non-bank entities accounted for over half of all Suspicious Matter Reports, signaling gaps in detection.

Meanwhile, the sector has expanded rapidly, growing roughly 15% annually in areas like mortgage lending, yet still accounts for only 5% of total financial system assets. Nonetheless, scrutiny is rising:

• AUSTRAC is ramping up targeted AML/CTF enforcement.
• ASIC has launched investigations, court actions (including over AUD 37 million in high-fee loans), and reports on the so-called ‘wild west’ of private credit.

This shift means compliance is no longer just a back office function. It’s central to customer experience, brand reputation, and even unit economics.

The smartest non-bank lenders are turning this challenge into a competitive advantage.

How Non-Bank Lenders Can Strengthen AML/CTF Compliance

Non-bank lenders who embed smart compliance into their operations can simultaneously:

• Reduce fraud and financial crime risk.
• Maintain seamless onboarding journeys.
• Build trust with regulators, customers, and partners.
• Unlock efficiencies in unit economics by reducing manual work.

The key lies in unifying fragmented processes into a single, orchestrated platform.

FrankieOne’s Smart Compliance Platform for Lenders

FrankieOne’s unified onboarding and risk platform empowers non-bank lenders to grow confidently, without compromising on trust, speed, or resilience.

Here’s how FrankieOne delivers tangible advantages across the entire customer lifecycle:

• KYC + KYB in a Single Flow
  Instantly validate ABNs and ASIC records, identify directors and UBOs, and verify their identities, all in one seamless journey.
• Real-Time Fraud Detection
  Flag synthetic IDs, device tampering, and suspicious behavioural patterns before bad actors enter the ecosystem. With 350+ global data sources, FrankieOne builds a layered view of risk traditional tools can miss.
• PEP, Sanctions, and Watchlist Screening
  Screen every customer against international and domestic risk lists in real time, with audit trails and alert management tools to ensure defensibility during audits.
• Risk-Based Orchestration
  Configure smart workflows - dialling up friction where risk is high, and keeping things lightweight for low-risk scenarios.
• Ongoing Monitoring
  Automate re-screening and ongoing transaction monitoring to detect changes in a customer’s risk profile or suspicious repayment behaviour.
• Plug-and-Play Compliance Infrastructure
  One integration point into hundreds of verification vendors and data partners. No vendor juggling, no tech sprawl.

Together, these capabilities help non-bank lenders turn compliance from a bottleneck into a growth engine.

Trusted by Leading Banks and Non-Bank Lenders

From investment innovators like Pearler to salary advance providers like Beforepay, non-bank lenders are partnering with FrankieOne to accelerate onboarding, strengthen compliance, and scale with confidence.

And it’s not just non-banks: the same orchestration platform trusted by Tier 1 banks like Westpac is also helping these innovators scale compliance with confidence.

The Future of Lending: Trust, Resilience, and Growth

As regulators tighten oversight and fraudsters grow more sophisticated, compliance is no longer just about “ticking the box.” For non-bank lenders, it’s the foundation of trust, customer loyalty, and sustainable growth.

The leaders in this sector will be those who treat compliance not as an obstacle, but as a strategic asset, building onboarding journeys that are both seamless and secure, and embedding resilience at every stage of the customer lifecycle.

FrankieOne partners with both global banks and fintech disruptors, proving that smart compliance infrastructure is a growth accelerator, not a barrier.

👉 Ready to explore how smart compliance can give your business an edge?
Book a conversation with FrankieOne and see how you can onboard faster, reduce fraud, and stay regulator ready.