The first
seeds
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Like every successful business venture, Pepper began with an idea. The idea evolved into a plan. And the plan became our strategy. First, find a niche that's underserved. Then create a way to innovate. And then develop tools that no one can match.
For Pepper, it was Australian borrowers left behind by established lenders. We identified our niche and deployed specialised tools to underwrite these debts. The result shook up the market and gave thousands of underserved consumers access to home ownership.

It led to an innovation in the shape of Residential Mortgage-backed Securities, prized among astute Debt Investors in the early 2000s. Since then, we’ve identified underserviced niches around the globe. But we’ve also exercised caution when it mattered.
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In 2007, after noticing unsettling signs in Europe’s debt market, Pepper scaled down its operations and shifted its focus to portfolio-servicing. While we don’t claim to have foreseen the recession of 2008, our caution proved prescient and prophetic, and found us well placed to capitalise on the global market recovery that followed.

2011 saw Pepper buy back its equity from Merrill Lynch and acquire GE Capital in Australia and New Zealand. It was the first of many acquisitions over the next decade which saw Pepper expand from Europe to the Far East.
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Why Pepper?
What's with the name?
What does a popular spice have to do with financial innovation? Quite a lot, it turns out. The spice trade which dated from 1500 BC to the end of the Middle Ages, was an early example of humans overcoming physical obstacles, languages barriers and geographic boundaries, to trade goods and services across cultures, markets and empires.

It’s a spirit we admire and learn from. One that’s as applicable to the globalised and interconnected world that Pepper operates in, as it was millennia ago.
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Our Process
How we got here
A spirit of entrepreneurship drives us. But passion alone won’t deliver results. It’s the model we’ve perfected over decades that enables our success. A process that we follow across markets, business cycles and asset classes. A system designed to add value, and to create it.
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1. Find underserved markets
Identify segments where credit can be extended to underserved borrowers.
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2. Deliver superior returns
Use proprietary lending, servicing and management IP to deploy capital and resources.
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3. Appoint local team
Recruit and support experienced local talent and back them with global resources.
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4. Provide expertise
Share expertise in lending, advisory and asset servicing across multiple verticals.
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5. Apply data and insights
Collect data across multiple cycles, jurisdictions and assets classes for market-relevant insights.
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6. Operate hub and spoke model
Use the hub to deliver centralised risk management, data and brand policies and to promote diversity and CSR projects.
The Future
Opportunity Asia
Pepper has already made its presence felt in South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong and India. Across Asia, as markets mature, millions of consumers fuelled by ambition, are starting businesses, buying homes and building wealth. Everywhere we look, we see potential for growth and innovation.
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800 million opportunities
There are 800 million unbanked customers across India, China and South east Asia. And we’re well served to service them.
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Growth areas
By 2030, three of the world’s largest economies will be Asian, yet 32% of Asia’s population lack access to basic financial services. By contrast smartphone penetration is over 80% in key markets and internet connectivity continues to grow rapidly across the region.
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Finding value
Non-performing loans are forecast to grow from 843 billion to 1.6 trillion in the next decade across Asia. Banks will need to offload these assets from their books. And will value a financial partner who can extract value from these assets.
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Understanding markets
Each market is different. Though the rules that govern them remain the same. By partnering with local expertise, we’re better placed to navigate each market’s regulatory framework.