Do we like them?

Do we like Up Bank?

Australian app-only digital bank (everyday and savings accounts, home loans), based in Melbourne, run by Bendigo and Adelaide Bank.

Our score: 6 out of 10. A well-liked digital bank backed by an established bank. We found no scandals or fines for it, but our searches turned up little on how it treats customers, so we only lean towards backing it.

Up began in 2018 as a partnership between the fintech Ferocia and Bendigo and Adelaide Bank. Ferocia's co-founders were Dom Pym and Grant Thomas.

In 2021 Bendigo agreed to buy Ferocia, including the rest of Up, for up to $116 million. Xavier Shay was named Up's CEO as part of that deal. Up still runs as its own brand.

Up had roughly 920,000 customers as of June 2024, up 29% on the year before. iTnews also reports Bendigo and Up use machine learning 'extensively' for home lending, and that the bank has moved its digital banking onto Google Cloud.

We searched for fines, scam failures and regulator action against Up and found nothing about it. Other banks like HSBC and ANZ came up instead. That's good, but a thin search doesn't prove a clean record. We score it a cautious 6.