Judo Capital Holdings Ltd (ASX: JDO) is off to a great start.
On its second day of trading on the ASX, the Judo Bank share price is up 5.53% to $2.385 per share.
That's up a total of 7.4% since yesterday's opening bell.
The All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO), by comparison, is up a slender 0.28% since Monday's open.
The Judo Bank share price is also now up 13.57% from its initial public offering (IPO) offer price of $2.10 per share. That IPO saw the bank raise $657 million from a range of institutional and retail investors.
(More details on the first day of trading here.)
Image source: Getty Images
Why all the fuss about the Judo Bank share price?
You've likely seen the bank's name in the financial headlines recently. Even before reading this article.
That's because new banks don't list on the ASX every day. Or even every decade. In fact, Judo Bank is the first bank to list on the ASX in 30 years.
Unlike Australia's big 4 banks, the newly listed company will focus its efforts on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Why?
According to Judo Bank's CEO, Joseph Healy:
Australian SMEs have been unable to secure the lending they need and the service they deserve to support and grow their businesses. They have been forced into a model that required them to contact their bank via a call centre; use their homes as collateral for business loans; and contend with a 'computer says no' approach to lending.
It's early days yet.
But judging by the Judo Bank share price moves over the first day and a half of listed trading, the bank may indeed be targeting some unmet borrowing demand.
