Our Favourite Money Moments of 2021

Unless you’ve been living a social media-free existence, you’ll no doubt be familiar with the #FreeBritney saga. The pop star had a pretty rough trot back in the noughties which led to the establishment of a conservatorship – a legal arrangement for individuals who cannot make their own decisions due to compromised mental health. Since 2008, all decisions around her money, career, relationships and even visitations with her children were made on her behalf by her father – who we now know is a total piece of work. 

After nearly 14 years, several documentaries, millions of tweets, and a long-fought court battle, Britney was finally released from her conservatorship. She is now working with her personally-appointed lawyer to help her regain control of her finances. She’s got a long journey toward financial wellness, but we’re cheering from the sidelines.

Every year the World Giving Index (WGI) names the most charitable countries based on three specific areas of giving: helping strangers, donating money and volunteering. The global initiative takes data from 125 countries in a survey of more than 1.3 million people. 

In 2021, Australia came in at number four with an overall score of 56%. We had the eighth highest rate of donating to charities and the ninth highest rate of helping strangers (tied with New Zealand and Malawi). The three countries that snuck in above us were the United States, Myanmar and New Zealand.

Norway has become the first country in the world where electric vehicle sales outnumbered petrol and diesel car sales. They also have the highest per capita ownership of EVs in the world – 55 EVs for every 1,000 people! 

Norway is on track to achieve its goal of phasing out the sale of new fossil fuel-based cars by 2025. Australia still has a long way to go but we’re keen to help you be part of the change. Our Electric Vehicle loans will get you into a fresh set of environmentally-friendly wheels sooner. 

We love a good startup story and Canva’s is a real gem. From a university side hustle to a game-changing global platform, Melanie Perkins and Cliff Obrecht’s online graphic design company was valued at $40 billion earlier this year. The pair have pledged to donate 30% of that stake to create Australia’s largest charitable foundation. The Canva Foundation will initially focus on eliminating extreme poverty around the world, but Perkins has identified a handful of other concerns including Climate Change they’ll tackle down the track.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of Ten Rings was one of the highest-grossing movies of 2021, bringing in $418 million at the box office. The movie stands on its own as an epic action movie that should definitely be on your summer watch list (if you haven’t seen it already!). But Shang-Chi’s impact goes far beyond its 98% Rotten Tomatoes approval rating. 

Shang-Chi is the first Marvel movie with an Asian protagonist. It also featured a predominantly East Asian cast and was directed by Asian-American filmmaker Destin Daniel Cretton. Inspired by Chinese folklore, the film has made huge strides in correcting the history of misrepresentation in Hollywood. The dollars don’t lie – audiences want more diversity and cultural representation, and Shang-Chi is proof of that.

This year, we became the first FinTech in Australia to become carbon neutral. We’ve partnered with Trace to offset the emissions we produce as a business. In 2021, we offset more than 262 tonnes of carbon.

This partnership helps to support a range of climate projects around the world including preventing deforestation in Indonesia, boosting native biodiversity on the Tiwi Islands and generating clean wind energy in India.