Joseph Healy spent his career in large banks. He started at Lloyds in London, then worked at Citibank and CIBC World Markets before joining ANZ in 1998 and NAB in late 2006. From about 2008 to 2014 he ran NAB's business banking.
He left NAB around 2014 and spent a year at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China. David Hornery, a fellow NAB veteran, left NAB in 2015 and joined him. The bank's name comes from a 1999 Harvard Business Review article on judo strategy.
Judo Capital was founded on 16 October 2016 with seed money from family offices led by Geoff Lord. In 2018 it raised more than A$140 million and arranged a A$350 million Credit Suisse debt facility. In April 2019 APRA granted a banking licence and the company became Judo Bank. A A$400 million Series B followed in June 2019.
In April 2020 the Australian government committed A$500 million through its funding schemes. In May 2020 Judo raised A$230 million at a valuation above A$1 billion. It went public on the ASX in 2021 as JDO. For the year to 30 June 2025 statutory profit after tax was A$86.4 million, up about 24%. Healy announced his departure as CEO, with Chris Bayliss named as his successor.