A new lender, Savi Moni, is entering Papua New Guinea’s financial services market. Founder and Managing Director Nick Keane tells Business Advantage PNG that the aim is to minimise the burden on employers, provide affordable and responsible loans, and promote financial wellbeing.

Savi Moni’s Nick Keane.

Papua New Guinean Nick Keane, co-founder of Nusa Island Retreat in Papua New Guinea’s New Ireland Province, says he got the idea to start Savi Moni after seeing the problems businesses experienced loaning money to their staff.

‘Historically, a lot of businesses were providing in-house dinau books, a PNG term for a loan. Anyone who was an employer in PNG would have employees request staff loans pretty regularly.’

Although it seemed to employers to be the right thing to do, it encouraged unrealistic expectations amongst employees and often the business had trouble getting the money back.

‘Those loans used to be interest-free loans to help employees get by. Virtually no employers do in-house loan books any more. It causes a range of issues and ties up company capital. Most businesses now say to staff that they are not helping with loans internally,’ he explains.

It means, Keane says, employees now have to borrow money from one of the commercial lenders in the market.

‘The business [employer] will help with letters certifying employment and possibly offering potential loan repayments through payroll. If employees cannot access commercial loans, they often resort to ‘street lenders,’ which can cause even greater issues.’

A new approach.

Savi Moni was established last September and a pilot program was launched to test the systems and processes. Keane says he has since signed up agreements with several  employers (‘loan partners’), which enable Savi Moni to offer loans to those companies’ employees.

‘That [agreement] allows us to get our loan repayment through the salary payroll. We have been very proactive about being ethical and responsible with our lending: promoting financial literacy and financial wellness. Ultimately, that benefits the loan partnering company (employer) and obviously it benefits the employees. It becomes a win-win.’

‘Recent studies … have shown that a real business case exists for businesses to help reduce the financial stress of their employees.’

Keane says he is providing market-leading rates – compared to the main lenders in the market – to give consumers a better deal.

‘It isn’t all about the rates; we reduce the financial and administrative costs associated (to employers) with staff lending and we are passionate about promoting financial literacy.

‘Recent studies by PwC, Salary Finance, AMP and Metlife have shown that a real business case exists for businesses to help reduce the financial stress of their employees. Employee productivity, attendance, engagement and retention are all impacted by financial stress.

To that end, we provide free resources and have partnered with ABV (Australian Business Volunteers) to deliver a custom designed Money Management course for our partner employers.’

Credit: Savi Moni via Facebook

Releasing capital

Keane has put his own money into the venture and also raised some funds from PNG investors. With so much kina ‘trapped’ in the country, he says, it is a good time to raise capital for an attractive business model.

‘At the moment, we just have a consumer loan product. However, we have plans to expand our product offering.’

Lending is not without risk but, when it comes to managing bad debts, Keane says the approach will be ‘supportive rather than punitive’. He believes this to be a good long term strategy.

‘We believe that will work. Ultimately, we will be offering Papua New Guineans very good value credit. If we can support them when they are struggling a little bit, I think they will be more than happy to come back with us.’