MPA 22.04

MPAMAGAZINE.COM.AU ISSUE 22.04

AN INDUSTRY FOR ALL How the mortgage and finance world is fostering greater diversity and inclusion

ELITE WOMEN 2022 Find out who made MPA’s list of exceptional female leaders in the profession

INDUSTRY ROUNDTABLE Commercial lenders review the market and opportunities for brokers

AUSTRALIAN MORTGAGE AWARDS Revealing the finalists for the 2022 industry awards

AUGUST 2022

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CONTENTS

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UPFRONT 02 Editorial

The road to diversity is challenging

13

04 Statistics

ELITE WOMEN 2022

FEATURES

Borrowers brace for rate hikes

06 Opinion

A united effort is needed to drive change

SPECIAL REPORT

20

MPA honours the most exceptional women in the mortgage and finance industry this year

20 Towards wider representation The MFAA continues to build awareness of the value of a diverse industry

22 Financial wellbeing

How ANZ is working to build people’s financial resilience

FEATURES

26 Cultural diversity

AN INDUSTRY FOR ALL

MPA’s annual special edition on diversity and inclusion highlights industry efforts to create equal opportunity in the mortgage and finance business

FEATURES

32

COMMERCIAL LENDERS ROUNDTABLE

BIG INTERVIEW

BIANCA PATTERSON

Major players in commercial finance discuss the state of the market and opportunities for brokers

The owner and managing director of Perth brokerage Calculated Lending is helping pave the way for women building successful careers in broking

Lendi Group is providing pathways for brokers from all backgrounds

28 Committed to reconciliation Liberty has an action plan to support First Nations peoples

30 Sharing prosperity

Three SFG-affiliated brokers are making the most of broking’s rewards

60 Leadership

How empathic leaders create a culture that drives strong team performance

PEOPLE 62 Brokerage insight

A thriving all-female brokerage aims to inspire more women to become brokers

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54 FEATURES

AUSTRALIAN MORTGAGE AWARDS

Find out who’s made the list of Excellence Awardees in 2022

64 Other life

Ben Stevanovic is kicking goals, both personally and professionally

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UPFRONT

EDITOR’S LETTER

Achieving diversity no easy task

I

t’s clear that the mortgage and finance industry has a long way to go to reach the goal of having a truly diverse and inclusive workforce in which all people feel welcome, regardless of their gender, culture, religion, ability, or sexual orientation.

You just need to look at the MFAA Opportunities for Women 2021 report to see where the industry is falling short.

The report’s survey shows there has been a decline in the number of female brokers, which dropped 1.78% in April–September 2021 compared to the previous year. The proportion of female brokers in the industry also fell to 25.6%, the lowest since reporting began.

Cultural diversity is also low in broking, with Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders representing just 1.38% of survey respondents; those from an Asian cultural background making up 7.37%; and those from an Indian, Pakistani or Sri Lankan background comprising 3.23%.

Conversely, respondents said that more than 85% of their clients were from culturally diverse backgrounds. The Australian Census 2021 figures show that 29.1% of Australians were born overseas and 48% had at least one parent born overseas.

It’s not going to be a quick fix. Change takes time, hard work and buy-in, from the boardroom to the basement It’s clear that the industry needs to change and better reflect the customers it serves. A number of lenders and aggregators have set up programs to champion female brokers and encourage women to work towards leadership roles.

As Jane Counsel, lead adviser for the Opportunities for Women report, says in her opinion piece in this issue, it will require everyone in the industry to play their part to effect change.

It’s not going to be a quick fix; institutional and structural change takes time, hard work and buy-in, from the boardroom to the basement.

But the good news is that broking is a career that’s open to everyone. Not all new entrants to the industry have banking or finance backgrounds. They come from all walks of life, attracted by the opportunity to run their own business, work flexible hours and build deep and trusted relationships with customers who are arguably making the most important decisions of their lives about buying homes or setting up businesses.

Taking an in-depth look at progress towards diversity and inclusion in 2022, this special edition of MPA talks to the many organisations, including the MFAA, lenders and aggregators, that have set up programs or are making concerted efforts to foster greater diversity and ensure there is equality of opportunity across the industry.

www.mpamagazine.com.au AUGUST 2022 EDITORIAL

SALES & MARKETING

Editor Antony Field

Publisher Claire Tan

Contributors Jane Counsel, Tracey Ezar, Michelle Gibbings, Rebecca Houghton Production Editor Roslyn Meredith

ART & PRODUCTION Designers Loiza Razon, Juan Ramos Customer Success Manager Andi Zbojniewicz

CORPORATE Chief Executive Officer Mike Shipley Chief Operating Officer George Walmsley Managing Director Justin Kennedy Chief Information Officer Colin Chan Director – People and Culture Julia Bookallil

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UPFRONT

STATISTICS BRACING FOR RATE RISES

HOME PRICES DROP AGAIN IN JUNE

AUSTRALIAN HOME PRICES ALL DWELLINGS

National home prices fell 0.55% in June from their peak in March of this year, while monthly home price growth has slowed down across the country, with widespread falls in June, according to the PropTrack Home Price Index.

76%

of home loan borrowers have been prepping for rate hikes

29%

have been saving extra cash in their savings accounts to help cover future rises in mortgage repayments

MONTHLY GROWTH

National

-0.25%

Capital cities

-0.35%

Regional areas

0.02%

Sydney

-0.4%

Rest of NSW

-0.02%

Melbourne

-0.61%

Rest of Vic

-0.13%

Brisbane

-0.09%

Rest of Qld

0.11%

Adelaide

0.42%

Rest of SA

0.75%

Perth

0.12%

Rest of WA

0.11%

Hobart

0.26%

Rest of Tas

0.13%

Darwin

0.08%

Rest of NT

0.25%

ACT

-0.23%

AUSSIES BUILDING HOMES ON SMALLER BLOCKS

24%

ABS data shows that the average site area of new houses in Australian capital cities has decreased steadily over the past 10 calendar years, dropping by 13% (or 64sqm) overall – from 496sqm in 2012 to 432sqm in 2021. The average floor area, meanwhile, reduced by 1% (or 3sqm).

have been stashing money in offset accounts to help reduce home loan repayments

500

AVERAGE SIZE (SQM) OF SITE AREA FOR HOUSE APPROVALS IN COMBINED CAPITALS* 496

480

481 471

460

11%

454

447

442

420 400 Source: Mozo

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466

440

have cut back on discretionary spending to build up savings to prepare for higher interest rates

4

463

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

* Greater capital city statistical areas of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth combined

2017

2018

2019

433

432

2020

2021 Source: ABS

HOUSING BY THE NUMBERS

BY STATE AND TERRITORY – JUNE 2022

The 2021 Census showed that private dwellings numbered 10,852,208 in Australia, 70% of which were separate houses, 13% were townhouses, and 16% were apartments. Of these dwellings, 31% were owned outright, 35% were owned with a mortgage, and 30.6% were rented.

ANNUAL GROWTH

MEDIAN VALUE

CHANGE SINCE PEAK

PEAK MONTH

11.53%

$716,000

-0.55%

March 2022

8.77%

$778,000

-0.99%

March 2022

19.22%

$582,000

0%

June 2022

6.41%

$1,015,000

-1.52%

February 2022

19.27%

$704,000

-0.02%

May 2022

5%

$796,000

-1.77%

February 2022

16.34%

$571,000

-0.28%

April 2022

23.75%

$683,000

-0.09%

May 2022

22.14%

$546,000

0%

June 2022

23.39%

$584,000

0%

June 2022

20.39%

$340,000

0%

June 2022

9.18%

$537,000

0%

June 2022

10.06%

$409,000

-0.8%

February 2022

17.4%

$696,000

0%

June 2022

22.31%

$507,000

0%

June 2022

6.92%

$482,000

-0.58%

October 2013

2.22%

$420,000

0%

June 2022

15%

$852,000

-0.54%

March 2022

KEY HOUSING STATISTICS – 2021 CENSUS

10,852,208

No. of private dwellings

Dwelling type

70%

Separate houses

13%

16%

Townhouses

Apartments

35%

30.6%

Housing tenure

31%

Owned outright Owned with a mortgage

Rented

1,043,776

No. of unoccupied dwellings

Source: PropTrack Home Price Index, June 2022

Source: ABS

MORE HOUSEHOLDS JOIN MILLIONAIRES’ CLUB

NEW OWNER-OCCUPIER HOME LOANS DIP IN SIZE

In the 12 months to May 2022, 487 markets (450 house and 37 unit markets) joined the million-dollar club, CoreLogic has revealed. Of the total number of house and unit markets analysed in May, 1,367, or 30.4%, posted a median value of $1m or more.

The national average size of new loans for owner-occupier dwellings saw a slight rise in May to $615,310, up 0.7% month-on-month and 12% from a year ago. Meanwhile, the average size of these loans month-on-month has fallen in five states – NSW, SA, WA, Tas and the NT.

NO. OF HOUSE AND UNIT MARKETS THAT JOINED MILLION-DOLLAR LIST, YEAR TO MAY 2022* 128

AVERAGE SIZE OF NEW OWNER-OCCUPIER HOME LOANS, MAY 2022* Average loan size National

100 71

59 33

32

ld W ne ne ide ney of Q our f NS ela sba i t b o Syd d r l s t A e B Re M Res * Represents markets in suburbs where the median house or unit value rose to >$1m by May 2022

30

ACT

15 th Per

10 Vic t of s e R

Source: CoreLogic Million Dollar Markets report

Month-on-month change

Year-on-year change

$615,310

$4,156

0.7%

$65,812

12.0%

NSW

$780,762

-$5,273

-0.7%

$68,868

9.7%

Vic

$643,067

$5,799

0.9%

$75,175

13.2%

Qld

$536,289

$8,837

1.7%

$76,906

16.7%

SA

$459,262

-$8,023

-1.7%

$59,226

14.8%

WA

$466,846

-$4,643

-1.0%

$35,656

8.3%

Tas

$445,781

-$1,997

-0.4%

$57,953

14.9%

NT

$410,730

-$16,247

-3.8%

$1,271

0.3%

ACT

$599,898

$3,577

0.6%

$63,436

11.8%

* Includes construction and purchase of new and existing dwellings

Source: RateCity.com.au; ABS Lending Indicators, May 2022

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UPFRONT

OPINION

GOT AN OPINION THAT COUNTS? Email antony.field@keymedia.com

United effort needed to drive change If the mortgage industry wants to boost female brokers, everyone must get involved, says Jane Counsel ‘YOU CAN’T be what you can’t see’ is a phrase I use to describe the importance of having diverse role models in all industries.

When it comes to the mortgage industry, in which women represent less than 26% of all brokers, diverse role models are critical.

I often share how role models influenced my early career decisions. As the daughter and granddaughter of two generations of female nurses, I was set to follow the family tradition until a chance encounter with an impressive young female journalist changed my destiny.

I was an impressionable 11-year-old when 60 Minutes journalist Jana Wendt arrived in our country town and spoke to our class.

Meeting such a powerful female role model encouraged my first career in journalism.

customer base is incredibly diverse, the MFAA Opportunities for Women 2021 research report found that the representation of brokers is still predominantly white AngloSaxon heterosexual men aged 47–57.

How can this be in 2022, you might ask?

We know from the report’s research that the biggest perceived barriers to female participation are unconscious beliefs about gender roles in the workplace, safety concerns, and a lack of industry experience.

But there are other subtle barriers and microaggressions that women face that have an impact on how included they feel.

Almost 60% of men don’t believe women face any barriers; 21% don’t believe women are under-represented, and 55% are unsure.

We all have a role to play to help enable greater gender, cultural and linguistic diversity. If you care about this industry, you can’t be a bystander Relatable role models are important, not just to show women they can succeed in a range of industries. It’s also about the power of role models who break outdated practices and social rules, break down barriers to women and other minorities, drive innovative recruitment and retention, call out noninclusive behaviours, and are proactive in advocating for change.

We all have a role to play to help enable greater gender, cultural and linguistic diversity. If you care about this industry, you can’t be a bystander.

Despite the fact that brokers account for nearly 70% of all mortgages, and their

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This is the perception gap: if it’s not happening to me and I can’t see it, it’s not a problem, and why would I need to do anything about it?

MFAA research has focused on making invisible barriers to women in broking more visible, especially to the men with the power to drive change. Although the research has helped, the decline of female representation should be a concern to everyone. If we can’t retain female brokers in the boom times, then how can we possibly think we will fix this issue when the market turns the other way?

The time for talking is over. It’s not just up to the MFAA to drive change; it’s up to all of us. As role models, how we approach the

issue can be a positive catalyst for change.

Here are five things we can all do to help retain female brokers: 1 Be the change you seek. The standard

you walk past is the standard you accept.

Don’t walk past non-inclusive practices impacting women, and don’t accept that it’s OK for women and minority groups to be under-represented as brokers when they are not under-represented as your customers.

2 Be more curious. Ask why female brokers

are leaving, and intervene earlier. Find out what the MFAA research says and how to get involved in initiatives. Explore state and federal funding to bring more women into your business, and ask women what they think needs to change.

3 Be a rule breaker and game changer.

Break the rules on outdated non-inclusive industry practices. Be innovative in how you recruit for female brokers; create opportunities by offering part-time broking roles and other flexible working options.

4 Celebrate a diversity of role models.

Success in this industry wears many hats.

Historically, successful role models have been skewed towards celebrating financial outcomes above all. Make sure to also celebrate those who are supporting community initiatives, who are entrepreneurial or focused on sustainability, or who go above and beyond for their customers.

5 Be actively inclusive. Identify how your

unconscious biases might affect your ability to be inclusive. Operate with an inclusive mindset: think about the language you use in job ads to attract more diverse candidates, and how you involve women and men equally as speakers at industry events; and create equal opportunities for men and women to progress their careers.

Jane Counsel is lead adviser for the MFAA’s annual Opportunities for Women report. She also provides leadership training, coaching, and diversity and inclusion consulting services through her company, Jane Counsel & Associates.

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PEOPLE

BIG INTERVIEW

BIANCA PATTERSON: CREATING A BETTER PATHWAY FOR WOMEN Becoming a broker is not always easy, but Bianca Patterson, who runs a successful Perth brokerage, is passionate about supporting women to enter the industry and thrive BIANCA PATTERSON doesn’t gloss over the difficulties she faced when switching from the property business to mortgage broking 11 years ago.

“I was attracted to the flexibility and fastpaced nature of the finance industry,” says Patterson. “I am a problem solver, so becoming a broker was a natural career progression.”

“The early days were challenging. I was a 26-year-old female with no banking or broking experience, so every new client was a significant learning experience.

“As a new broker you don’t know what you don’t know, and there is only so much theory can teach you. You learn as new scenarios come up and as lenders change their policies.”

Sadly, Patterson’s early days as a mortgage broker weren’t what she expected.

“Unfortunately, in most instances the industry wasn’t welcoming,” she says. “I was overlooked, and if I was invited to attend events I was asked things like whose assistant I was, or who couldn’t attend – as if I had stepped in in someone’s place. Many of my early experiences were discouraging, and I see why we lose 50% of new entrants to the industry within the first 12 months.”

However, Patterson says she met other industry peers “who were, and still are,

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incredibly supportive of me and my career aspirations”.

“They helped me see that I should lead and be the change I wanted to see in the industry.”

Running a broker business Patterson says setting up her brokerage, Calculated Lending, was one of the most

it’s impossible, and inefficient, to do it all.”

Patterson says she loves compliance and administration and finds client and people management the biggest challenge in the business.

“It’s an ongoing challenge to get the right balance, delegating roles that are not the best use of my time or that I simply don’t enjoy.”

“Broking is one of few occupations where woman have complete pay parity. We have the opportunity to earn as much as the effort we put in. Our income-earning potential is uncapped, and not biased by gender” rewarding yet challenging achievements of her career.

“It was hard work, and initially I failed at more things than I succeeded with, but over time I learnt more about myself and the sort of business owner I wanted to be, and that’s when everything just seemed to fall into place.

“I know now that while it’s important to know how to run every function of the business,

Pushing for female participation Patterson is a member of the MFAA Opportunities for Women and community advisory panels and plays an active role in championing female brokers.

“Broking is one of few occupations where woman have complete pay parity,” she says. “We have the opportunity to earn as much as the effort we put in, so our

PROFILE Name: Bianca Patterson Title: Director and mortgage and finance specialist Company: Calculated Lending Years in the industry: 11 Career highlight: “Right now! COVID was a blessing for our industry, forcing a change away from archaic processes so we can now work from anywhere in the world.

I have spent the best part of the last six months travelling while working remotely and have big plans for the next few years.”

Career challenge: “Knowing when enough clients is enough, and when is the right time to step back and hand over the reins of the business so I can move on to my passion projects for the industry and in life.”

www.mpamagazine.com.au

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PEOPLE

BIG INTERVIEW

income-earning potential is uncapped, and not biased by gender.”

Despite this, says Patterson, the industry is still struggling to recruit and retain women, with the proportion of female brokers now at an all-time low of 25.6%.

“Our industry has so much to offer, and I believe it is all of our responsibilities to look at the way we have done things in the past and learn from them.

“I hope that by sharing my experiences and by being actively involved in the MFAA initiatives and in these conversations, I can

its Champions of Diversity series, which interviews successful industry members who advocate for or demonstrate diversity.

“It’ been extremely well received across the industry and has allowed the often-untold story of a culturally diverse broker, a single parent or a working dad who built a business to give them more time with their family, to be heard and celebrated,” Patterson says.

This year the MFAA has also launched its Women in Finance Broking networking events, with great attendance by brokers and industry partners across the country.

“Diversity and inclusion is an active conversation now. The business case for women in our industry is clear, and I see this paving the way for more flexible and transparent working conditions for all” help shape our industry and the perception others have of it.”

Patterson says the Opportunities for Women panel is made up of a group of brokers and industry partners who review and analyse data from the annual MFAA Diversity and Inclusion survey, to unpack the issues in the industry and different age groups’ and genders’ perceptions of those issues.

“We consider the answers to the set questions, and the comments, and try to find common themes in that year, and this has been happening year-on-year since we started the initiative.”

The common feedback has been that women want to feel included, says Patterson.

They also want to hear from more female role models; to have events organised that consider them (not just drinking and golf days); and to have speakers focus more on issues that affect them.

This feedback led to the MFAA launching

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“These events highlighted that the conversation is relevant, and that the perception gap is changing; however, we need to keep up the momentum to make sure that we make lasting change.”

Positive change Patterson says there has been significant change in the industry, especially over the last few years.

“Diversity and inclusion is an active conversation now. The business case for women in our industry is clear, and I see this paving the way for more flexible and transparent working conditions for all.

“The industry is starting to celebrate some of our incredible talent for more than just the volume of business they write, and it’s great to hear their stories and to acknowledge that success is so different for all of us. This shift gives me confidence that we are on the right track, but we still have a fair way to go.”

CALCULATED LENDING AT A GLANCE

Location Perth, WA

Team Bianca Patterson – director and mortgage and finance specialist Tracey Watkins – mortgage and finance specialist

Services Home loans Investment loans Commercial loans Construction/development finance Business finance Equipment finance Patterson says progress in female broker numbers was being made “until COVID threw a spanner in the works”.

“Statistically, across the world women took on the bulk of the extra childcare and homeschooling during lockdowns, and we are going through ‘The Great Resignation’ with record numbers of people leaving their roles to start brand-new careers,” she says.

“We have a real opportunity now to attract women into our industry, and with the right support and encouragement we will ideally be their final career choice.”

SPECIAL REPORT

2022

Recognising the achievements and commitment of female professionals in Australia’s mortgage industry

CONTENTS

PAGE

Feature article.......................................... 14 Methodology............................................ 15 Elite Women 2022..................................... 17

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13

SPECIAL REPORT

ELITE WOMEN 2022

CELEBRATING WOMEN IN FINANCE Among the shifting sands of the previous 12 months, one trend is clear: the declining proportion of women brokers.

The latest MFAA Industry Intelligence Service report shows that the proportion of female brokers decreased to a record low of 25.6% in the six months to September 2021.

An MPA survey of brokers on aggregators in May of this year showed an even lower 22.1%.

Conversely, over the same period, other markers have been heading in the opposite direction, such as interest rates, particular property values and lending trends.

MPA shares the perspectives of some of the exceptional women in the profession who made this year’s inaugural list of Elite Women, in a survey covering the tumultuous 12-month period prior to May 2022.

“Disparity has been exacerbated by COVID-19, which meant many women divided their time between work and caregiving,” says Alycia Inglis, director at Stoneturn.

“The reality is that the majority of brokers are solo operators, and it’s harder for women to be available around the clock with the other demands on their time, particularly as

ELITE WOMEN BY LOCATION

Alycia Inglis, Stoneturn

9 Queensland

2 Western Australia

3

24

South Australia

15 Victoria

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finding support staff is an ongoing challenge.”

Other women respondents to the survey also pointed to COVID-19 as one reason behind the decline in female brokers.

However, a range of factors beyond the pandemic are at play.

One size doesn’t fit all New South Wales

14

“The reality is that the majority of brokers are solo operators, and it’s harder for women to be available around the clock with the other demands on their time”

Pink Finance director Nicole Cannon feels that women shy away from committing to being mortgage brokers because many jobs in the industry are commission based.

In her opinion, women prefer a consistent salary and would typically look for administrative roles, which reduces the overall number of female brokers versus male. The pay-

FROM THE SPONSOR

Natalie Smith General Manager, ANZ Retail Broker

ANZ is a proud sponsor of this year’s inaugural MPA Elite Women showcase. We remain committed to fostering an inclusive culture and improving the diversity of our industry. We congratulate all of the Elite Women who have made their mark on the mortgage landscape and those who are being celebrated in

structure argument has merit when considering lawyers. There are more female solicitors than male in every Australian state and territory, but the majority are not in senior positions. Anecdotally, one reason for this is that young female lawyers delay promotion to partner positions because remuneration is commonly tied to the amount of business that is brought in, which is not the case for junior positions.

To try to remove this disincentive, Cannon is introducing broker jobs at Pink Finance that start out as PAYG. Cara Giovinazzo, founder of Borro, is taking similar steps to attract brokers.

this special report. Collectively, we can shift the narrative to highlight the economic benefit of diversity and the value that women, non-binary and genderdiverse groups add to our industry.

measures to keep women in broking.

“There is a lot of opportunity to offer maternity/paternity-style processes to support men and women during this important time of their life and ensure they are not faced with a decision to leave the industry,” Giovinazzo says.

“A lot more can be done to support young families in this industry.”

Flexible work practices are important.

While the pandemic has ushered in an era of working from home, some workplaces are more progressive than others.

Suzi Trajanovski, director of growth at Loan Market, says the company has been

“There is a lot of opportunity to offer maternity/paternity-style processes to support men and women during this important time of their life and ensure they are not faced with a decision to leave the industry”

In May of this year, MPA invited industry professionals from across the country to nominate exceptional female leaders for its Elite Women 2022 list. Nominees had to be working in a role that related to, interacted with, or in some way impacted the industry and should have demonstrated a clear passion for their work.

Nominators were asked to describe the nominee’s standout professional achievements over the past 12 months, along with their contributions to diversity and inclusion in the industry and how they had given back through volunteer roles and charity work.

Recommendations from managers and senior industry professionals were also taken into account.

After a thorough review of all the nominations, the MPA team narrowed down the list to the final 53 Elite Women who have made their mark on the industry.

She praises support groups such as Leading Ladies on Facebook as critical in a maleorientated industry.

Cara Giovinazzo, Borro

“We now have a salaried model for our brokers where they can also earn bonuses and trail income on top of their base salary,” she says.

She also points to the need for aggregators and industry bodies to introduce retention

METHODOLOGY

able to buck the industry trend and attract more female brokers over the course of the pandemic due to its flexible policies.

“Over 2021, we had a 22% increase in female loan writers year-on-year [and a] 16% increase in female business owners.”

Natural selection While not all agree, multiple brokers cited examples of where they felt women were better suited than men to handling sensitive issues, such as divorce.

“One of the things that female brokers

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15

SPECIAL REPORT

ELITE WOMEN 2022

PROPORTION OF FEMALE BROKERS IN FINANCE INDUSTRY 27.2%

Apr 2019–Sept 2019

26.9%

Oct 2019–Mar 2020

27.1%

Apr 2020–Sept 2020

Oct 2020–Mar 2021

25.8%

Apr 2021–Sept 2021

25.6% Source: MFAA Industry Intelligence Service, 13th Edition

“Female customers often feel more comfortable telling their story to another woman” Suzi Trajanovski, Loan Market encounter is requests from female customers who feel a little more comfortable talking to another woman, especially when their financial literacy may not be as strong,” says Trajanovski.

Older women are more likely to have left financial matters to their husbands, and after a divorce or death they need assistance in dealing with debt, budgeting and other essentials.

“These female customers often feel more comfortable telling their story to another woman,” she says.

Female representation is even lower in rural

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areas. Ashleigh Pakis, director at Panache Financial, is one of only five brokers in Goulburn, a small town with a population of around 32,000 in the Southern Tablelands of NSW. “I’m the only woman, which is a key point of difference for female clients who appreciate my hands-on, compassionate approach,” Pakis says. Like Cannon, she is on a personal mission to address the gender imbalance, employing three women on terms that are highly flexible.

Belinda Gibson, director of TM Financial Group, is another broker who recently

employed two women and is in the process of mentoring them to become brokers.

Bundy Financial, based in the suburb of Essendon in Melbourne, has a majority female staff.

“Having a strong contingent of women in the office provides an end-to-end experience with talented female finance specialists who provide a level of empathy that’s perhaps harder to find across male-only brokerages,” says managing director Holly Bundy.

Female brokers can be left to pick up the pieces of poor financial decision-making or manipulation of domestic affairs by the former partners of female clients.

“We have women who are trying to take control of their finances following the breakdown of relationships – commonly, these women were never allowed to be involved in the household finances – and some young women who have made unwise financial decisions that are coming back to haunt them,” says Katherine Persoglia, managing director of Property Before Prada.

“I have no doubt that female clients gravitate to female brokers.”

Services such as Property Before Prada cater to more than just the financials, making an effort to also offer support through wellness programs.

While such services may add an X factor that appeals to some female clients, there is no doubt that women brokers are competing with their male counterparts in the traditional sense too.

Competing in good times and bad Cassandra Woodyard is a business development manager at Connective Home Loans and has the remarkable distinction of making not only the Elite Women 2022 list but also the Australian Broker 5-Star BDMs list for the second successive year.

“This is thanks to her comprehensive understanding of the BDM-broker relationship,” says Michael Goerner, head of Connective Home Loans. “Cass knows

“The country wouldn’t be able to run the way that it’s supposed to if interest rates stayed at 2%” Rachel Farrell, Bloom Capital

Cara Giovinazzo Founder and Senior Mortgage Broker Borro Phone: 0409 463 850 Email: cara@borro.com.au Website: borro.com.au Nicole Cannon Director and Senior Finance Broker Pink Finance Phone: 0414 633 793 Email: nicole@pinkfinance.com.au Website: pinkfinance.com.au

Belinda Gibson Director TM Finance Group Phone: 0448 275 630 Email: bgibson@tmfinancegroup.com.au Website: tmfinancegroup.com.au

Katherine Persoglia Managing Director and Finance Broker Property Before Prada Phone: 0418 363 673 Email: katherine@propertybeforeprada.com Website: propertybeforeprada.com

that brokers often work around the clock, and she will always endeavour to answer or return calls in a prompt fashion when a broker is in need of guidance.”

Goerner says the challenge ahead for brokers and BDMs will lie within the environment of increasing interest rates as clients encounter lifestyle adjustments.

With the Reserve Bank of Australia lifting official interest rates by 50 basis points to 1.85% in August and further increases expected later this year, there is little doubt that property prices will continue to

Peita Davies Finance Specialist and Franchise Owner MoneyQuest Penrith, Blue Mountains & Mackay Phone: 0452 214 202 Email: peita.davies@moneyquest.com.au Website: moneyquest.com.au/Penrith

Rachel Farrell Managing Director Bloom Capital Phone: 0403 696 789 Email: rachel.farrell@bloomcapital.com.au Website: bloomcapital.com.au

Sarah Thomson Managing Director and Broker Loan Market Geelong Phone: 0352 242 125 Email: sarah.thomson@loanmarket.com.au Website: broker.loanmarket.com.au/geelong-city

Sue Hayter Founder, Mentor, Coach and Broker Quality Financial Group Phone: 0425 792 903 Email: sue@suehayter.com Website: suehayter.com

Inspiring You to Live the Life You Love

moderate. Women brokers are ready to help clients come to terms with this.

Bloom Capital managing director Rachel Farrell welcomes higher rates as a return to a more “normal” economy.

“The country wouldn’t be able to run the way that it’s supposed to if interest rates stayed at 2%,” she explains.

“People need to kind of start remembering the bigger picture.”

Giving clients the right advice at the right time is part of the job, but one thing is for sure: the cohort of seasoned female mortgage brokers is here to stay.

Carol King Owner and Director Loan Market Buderim Phone: 0409 647 414 Email: carol.king@loanmarket.com.au Website: broker.loanmarket.com.au/buderim Caterina Nesci Director of ESG and International Partnerships La Trobe Financial Phone: 0422 270 474 Email: cnesci@latrobefinancial.com.au Website: latrobefinancial.com Fiona Gray State Manager WA/SA/NT ALI Group Phone: 0415 119 094 Email: fionagray@aligroup.com.au Website: aligroup.com.au Heather Gallagher Head of Training and Education outsource Financial Phone: 0468 560 555 Email: heather@outsourcefinancial.com.au Website: outsourcefinancial.com.au Kirsty Colliver Director and Finance Broker Flair Finance Phone: 02 6884 5050 Email: kirsty@flairfinance.com.au Website: flairfinance.com.au

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17

SPECIAL REPORT

ELITE WOMEN 2022

Alycia Inglis Director Stoneturn Andrea McNaughton Managing Director Loan Market Angela Tracey Director of Broker Success Loan Market Anita Fung Business Development Manager Australian Unity Bank Anita Marshall Owner and Mortgage Broker Advanced Finance Solutions Ashleigh Pakis Director Panache Financial Cassandra Woodyard CHL Business Development and Operations Manager Connective Broker Services Dani Davidson Director Funding.com.au Daniella Mancuso National and NSW Business Development Manager Wisr Danielle Morrison Growth Marketing Manager Ubank Deb Purvis Director Purvis AgriFinance

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Elizabeth Zaki Mortgage Broker OneSite Finance

Melanie Evans Chief Executive Officer ING Australia

Emma Stephens Mortgage Broker Mortgage Choice

Melissa Ashcroft General Manager The AAA Financial Group

Holly Bundy Director Bundy Financial Services Isabella Constantinou Associate Director of Sales Simplicity Loans & Advisory Joanne Attard Principal Advisor Jo Attard + Co Kama Atcheson Head of Partnerships Moneytech Karen Adams Mortgage and Finance Broker Harken Finance Karen Hall Business Owner and Broker Action Finance Mortgage Solutions Katrina Rowlands Managing Director Mortgage Success Kim Cawthorne Director and Accredited Mortgage Specialist Mortgages for Women Leanne Johnstone Owner Manager of Mortgage Choice in Lane Cove Mortgage Choice Lee Middleton Regional Manager Nectar Mortgages

Deepti Alurkar Business Development Manager Aquamore Lending

Louisa Sanghera Director Zippy Financial

Deslie Taylor Owner Manager of Mortgage Choice in Ormeau Mortgage Choice

Marissa Schulze Director Rise High Financial Solutions

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Mhairi MacLeod Owner and Principal Broker Astute Ability Finance Group Natalie Denyer Director Birdie Wealth Polly Hoynes-Robson Head of Productivity Loan Market Preeti Kowshik Senior Mortgage Broker Home Loan Experts Renee Blethyn National Head of Broker Partnerships NextGen Richele Janjatovic Commercial Business Development Manager – Vic/Tas AFG Samantha Wills Head of Compliance Finsure Finance and insurance Suzi Trajanovski Director of Growth Loan Market Tanya Sale Chief Executive Officer outsource Financial Tes Anderson Business Development Manager Bankwest Vivienne Than Senior Mortgage Broker Home Loan Experts

Proudly sponsored by:

WHO WILL BE NAMED AUSTRALIA’S BEST BROKER? Entries close on 16 September

For more information visit www.mpamag.com

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19

FEATURES

WOMEN IN BROKING

Striving for a more representative broking industry The MFAA has devised a number of programs to ensure mortgage and finance broking is an attractive career option for people from all walks of life AUSTRALIA CONTINUES to become more culturally diverse, according to the 2021 Census. This provides more opportunities to all businesses, including the mortgage and finance broking industry.

Australia’s peak body for the industry, the MFAA, says diversity is about recognising, respecting and, most importantly, valuing differences based on ethnicity, gender, age, race, religion and sexual orientation.

“It’s important that we nurture a mortgage and finance broking industry that is set up to serve the needs of Australian homebuyers and business owners into the future,” says MFAA head of marketing and communications Stephen Hale.

“This is so we can continue to provide customers with access to finance in an environment in which they feel welcome, understood and comfortable to be themselves.

“Our members have told us that they value diversity and believe having a diverse industry is good for business. They also told us that they need support and resources to help them to achieve more diversity within the industry.”

The MFAA has been pursuing initiatives informed by its annual diversity and inclusion

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survey to support brokers and the wider industry to take further action.

“Our goal with all our diversity and inclusion initiatives is to help brokers understand the barriers their colleagues and potential employees are encountering when it comes to being part of the industry,” Hale says.

“Our strategic focus has been to provide resources to help our members look at ways to increase the diversity within their businesses

trend. This has prompted the MFAA to act. Since 2016, it’s shifted its diversity and inclusion program to support greater gender diversity within the industry.

According to the 2021 Census, 50.7% of Australia’s population identify as female, yet the proportion of female brokers is just 25.6% – the lowest level since the indicator has been tracked – according to the latest MFAA Industry Intelligence Service industry data.

Hale says there are many factors, within and outside the industry, that influence why women continue to be under-represented. He says it’s important that the industry continues to understand these factors so it can ensure the broking business is accessible to women and offers sustainable career options.

“In July, the MFAA launched its Women in Finance Broking networking events.

The need for this type of opportunity was clear, with all events across the country selling out within days” Stephen Hale, MFAA and to increase retention, which we know is an ongoing challenge, particularly for women within the industry.”

The number of female mortgage and finance brokers has fluctuated significantly over the years and is showing a downward

“One thing that was clear in feedback from our members was the need for opportunities to connect with each other in a supportive environment,” Hale says.

In July 2022, the MFAA launched its Women in Finance Broking networking

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DOWNWARD TREND IN PROPORTION OF FEMALE BROKERS IN THE INDUSTRY Number of female brokers 4,500

28.3%

4,000 3,500

3,700

27.4% 3,708

Proportion of female brokers 30%

27.3%

27.1%

27.1% 27.0%

3,871

3,779

3,746

27.2%

25.8%

25.6%

25%

3,679 3,361

3,000

26.9% 27.1%

3,267

3,292

3,209

3,249

20%

2,500 15% 2,000 1,500

10%

1,000 5% 500 0

Apr 16- Oct 16Sept 16 Mar 17

Apr 17- Oct 17- Apr 18- Oct 18- Apr 19- Oct 19- Apr 20- Oct 20- Apr 21Sept 17 Mar 18 Sept 18 Mar 19 Sept 19 Mar 20 Sept 20 Mar 21 Sept 21

0

Source: MFAA Industry Intelligence Service Report, 13th Edition, 1 April–30 Sept 2021

events, which are designed to enable likeminded women and men to come together and support broader inclusion in the finance broking industry.

Hale says the response to these events has been phenomenal.

“The need for this type of opportunity was clear, with all events across the country selling out within days.”

The MFAA says providing a career pathway allows people from all backgrounds to enter the industry and progressively gain the skills and knowledge required to be a successful broker. There are also benefits to broking businesses of nurturing talent at the start of brokers’ careers.

These benefits can include securing government incentives that enable a business to employ more staff than they may otherwise be able to, and to provide opportunities for candidates from diverse backgrounds.

“Being part of the mortgage and finance broking industry doesn’t have to mean becoming a broker at step one, and, for women in particular, research has shown that a business with a structured plan is appealing,” says Hale.

“Starting a broking business can also require significant capital, which can preclude

many from being part of the industry, and this type of pathway in the industry can also offer the opportunity for young people or those without the financial resources to begin broking initially to enter the industry and build experience first.”

The MFAA has developed a guide outlining the government incentives available to broking businesses which could potentially support employment costs and training fees, such as for completing a Certificate III qualification.

“We hear from a lot of brokers who experience hurdles in establishing a sustainable balance between their work and all other aspects of life,” Hale says. “They often feel they need to ‘do it all’, and find it hard to take time out of their business for holidays and professional development.

“Hearing from their peers about how they have put routines and businesses practices in place to support both a successful business and positive wellbeing is something our members told us they find useful in helping them to find what works best for their routine.”

The MFAA’s e-book, Balancing Work, Life and Everything Else, includes case studies of brokers with a range of backgrounds discussing strategies they use to maintain

their wellbeing. Hale says every broker’s situation is unique, and the e-book profiles brokers with a range of circumstances, including those from two-parent families, brokers who are single parents or living with disability, regional brokers and those new to industry. It also guides brokers to other resources and services.

He says the MFAA also believes it’s important to recognise and showcase industryled initiatives and individuals championing diversity in the industry, so it introduced a Diversity and Inclusion Award category in the MFAA National Excellence Awards.

“Diversity and inclusion has so many opportunities for broking businesses that it can be hard to know where to start,” says Hale.

“By showing what others are doing through the award, this provides a source of inspiration for others about what they can do that is appropriate to their business.

“The mortgage and finance broking industry remains a strong and vibrant industry that serves the needs of Australian consumers and business owners. By continuing to grow diversity within the business we can add to this strong foundation and ensure that it’s accessible to people from all walks of life as a career option.”

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21

FEATURES

FINANCIAL WELLBEING

A commitment to boosting customers’ financial wellbeing As interest rates and inflation continue to rise, people need to know how to manage their money.

ANZ’s Natalie Smith explains how the bank is helping customers achieve financial wellbeing

ANZ DESCRIBES financial wellbeing as a measure of a person’s confidence with money, and financial literacy.

Paying bills and meeting mortgage repayments, as well as handling unexpected financial expenses, is especially important during these tough economic times.

The latest ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence measure shows that consumer confidence is at its lowest level since 2020 and continues to fall, particularly among mortgage holders.

Natalie Smith, general manager of ANZ Retail Broker, says some customers with fixed rate terms are starting to roll off their loans, and there may be borrowers who haven’t experienced rate increases before.

“As a result, more home loan customers may be reflecting on their financial wellbeing and looking for additional support, to ensure that they have the right product for their situation and property goals,” Smith says.

“Financial wellbeing is not about how wealthy we are, how much we earn compared to someone else, or how much we know about the economy. While these factors have a

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positive influence, financial wellbeing is about how comfortable and positive we feel about our money, today and for the future.”

Smith says that in practical terms financial wellbeing “is about what we do with the money we have – how easily we can pay bills, make loan repayments or cope with financial setbacks, like an unexpected expense or a fall in income”.

“It also includes a sense of confidence that we will have enough money to enjoy life, into retirement and beyond.”

ANZ has been exploring the financial attitudes and behaviours of Australian adults for almost 20 years. However, the most recent ANZ survey of adult financial wellbeing, released in December 2021, showed that only 29% of Australians had ‘no worries’ when it came to their financial wellbeing.

Smith says that although there are socio-economic factors that can influence a person’s financial wellbeing, such as health, unemployment, earning potential and the stage they are at in their life journey, the ability to seek support from family, friends or the broader community is also important.

People with ‘no worries’ were also more likely to seek information, guidance or support with their finances from formal or professional sources in the last year, with approximately twice as many doing so as those with low financial wellbeing, according to the 2021 survey.

Australians with higher financial wellbeing reported being more comfortable talking to their main bank or having money conversations with people in their close circle of family and friends than those with lower financial wellbeing scores.

People with low financial wellbeing were more likely to feel they had no support from family, friends and the broader community.

“Taking steps to strengthen your financial wellbeing is a lot easier with the right tools, guidance and resources to support you,” says Smith. “If Australians believe that they cannot access this support from their family, friends or their local community, it’s not surprising that many people turn to a professional source for guidance.

“During times of uncertainty, brokers are well placed to support borrowers with specialist knowledge and guidance when it comes to buying, upgrading or refinancing a home. It’s possible that the first conversation that these borrowers have about their financial situation may be with a broker.”

Smith says ANZ is here to help.

“We have several resources to assist brokers and their customers looking to improve their financial resilience, feel

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good about the future, and make financial decisions with greater confidence.”

The resources are not just for ANZaccredited brokers, or existing ANZ customers; they’re free and available to everyone, no matter who they bank with, says Smith.

ANZ’s Financial Wellbeing Program is designed to help people become a “Financial Wellbeing” – or a better one – in six easy steps.

“This program provides simple, practical and educational information to plan a budget, reduce expenses, manage spending and save for a rainy day,” Smith says.

The program includes the ANZ Financial Wellbeing Calculator, which can analyse a person’s attitude to money, and their confidence in the future, and allow users to assess their current situation.

The ANZ Financial Wellbeing Challenge also provides weekly challenges, coaching, tips and tools to help people build new habits and do more with their money, regardless of how much they have.

Outside of the program, Smith says ANZ’s home loan repayment calculator allows

borrowers to compare home loan scenarios and better understand changes to their home loan repayments.

“In addition, the ‘Manage your loan’ page on anz.com provides insights and tips to help get the most out of a home loan,” she says.

ANZ customers can also access personalised insights, such as their monthly

As well as supporting financial wellbeing, ANZ has a strong commitment to strengthening diversity and inclusion within the bank and the wider financial services industry.

Natalie Smith, ANZ ‘Spend Summary’ and ‘Your Money Report’, through the ANZ App. “At ANZ, we want to help shape a world in which people and communities thrive,” Smith says.

“Supporting our customers to make the most of their money throughout their lives is critical to this, and each day we are working

Struggling

11%

29%

Valuing diversity

“Financial wellbeing is about what we do with the money we have – how easily we can pay bills, make loan repayments or cope with financial setbacks”

LEVELS OF FINANCIAL WELLBEING IN AUSTRALIA

No worries

better together with our brokers to help Australians achieve their home loan goals.”

17%

Getting by

Doing OK 43%

Established in 2018 and run in partnership with Notable Media, the ANZ Doyenne program is designed to raise the visibility of female brokers and drive a more balanced representation of voices in the industry.

The program connects participants with a network of like-minded women in the broking industry and provides them with a greater understanding of the media landscape, the skills to enhance their professional profile, and the opportunity to expand their network.

ANZ is also committed to supporting the LGBTQI+ community. The bank has its own LGBTQI+ network, ANZ Pride, and has been recognised as a leading employer for LGBTQI+ inclusion.

The major bank has been a strong supporter of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras and QLife, which provides peer support and counselling for the LGBTQI+ community.

To promote gender balance and improve outcomes for all genders, ANZ also partners with industry bodies such as Chief Executive Women, the Diversity Council of Australia, and the MFAA’s Opportunities for Women.

For more information on the ANZ Financial Wellbeing Program and to access the resources referenced in this article, visit www.anz.com. au/personal/financial-wellbeing.

Source: ANZ report on Financial Wellbeing: A Survey of Adults in Australia, December 2021

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23

Celebrating 25 years of free thinking

Over the past 25 years, Liberty has helped more than 700,000 free thinkers get financial – and we couldn’t have done it without you.

Whatever the scenario, we’ve always worked alongside you to consider the big picture.

And just look at what we’ve achieved together!

So, thank you. To all the business partners we’ve worked with over the years… you’re truly free thinkers too.

To grow your business, speak with your Liberty BDM today.

Call your Liberty BDM today

13 11 33

liberty.com.au/broker Approved applicants only. Lending criteria apply. Fees and charges are payable. Liberty Financial Pty Ltd ACN 077 248 983 and Secure Funding Pty Ltd ABN 25 081 982 872 Australian Credit Licence 388133, together trading as Liberty Financial.

FEATURES

CULTURAL DIVERSITY

Celebrating brokers of all backgrounds Lendi Group wants its broker network to be as culturally diverse as its customer base. Brokers Matilda Phan and Amandip Singh talk to MPA about how their experiences have shaped their values AUSTRALIA IS one of the most multicultural nations in the world, with close to 30% of its population born overseas, according to the 2021 Census. So it makes sense that Lendi Group, which boasts Australia’s largest retail broker network, ensures that its brokers are representative of the Australian population.

And it’s definitely succeeding: 36% of the Aussie broker network are born overseas,

The group offers a range of pathways to enter the industry and progress within its network.

“We’re committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive community for everyone, both at enterprise level and within our group broker network,” Cramb says.

“Our customers come from all back­ grounds and walks of life, and speak many

“My parents came here with nothing – no family, no English, no help – and raised three kids on their own. I wouldn’t have this life if it wasn’t for them risking everything to move here” Matilda Phan, Lendi and many of its other brokers are secondgeneration Australians.

“This highlights the opportunity we provide for people from diverse backgrounds to build a successful business by partnering with us,” says Lendi Group CEO of distribution Brad Cramb.

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languages, so it’s important that this cultural and linguistic diversity is reflected in our workforce. We actively elevate the voices and celebrate the successes of our people from diverse backgrounds.”

These voices include those of Lendi home

loan specialist Matilda Phan and Aussie franchise partner Amandip Singh.

Matilda Phan Phan was born in Australia to Vietnamese parents. She started her career in card and fraud administration at a major bank, before joining Lendi in 2018 as an associate and then becoming a home loan specialist, achieving impressive results.

Earlier this year, Phan was part of the first Lendi cohort of brokers to be inducted into the group’s Signature program, an industryleading performance program that identifies the top-performing 10% of the broker network and provides opportunities to further develop and elevate their results.

“My dad migrated to Australia by boat in 1990 due to war and conflict happening in Vietnam,” says Phan. “It wasn’t until 1998 that my mum was able to fly over and settle here permanently.”

Phan says she works hard every day, “knowing what my dad had to go through to make it to Australia”.

“All the stories you hear about the difficulty experienced by migrants travelling by boat

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THE LENDI GROUP BROKER NETWORK Aussie Home Loans and Lendi joined forces in May 2021 to form Lendi Group, marrying Aussie’s household brand and extensive broker network with Lendi’s pioneering tech and processes Lendi Group now has more than 1,300 brokers and 230 stores Since 1992, its brokers have helped over one million Australians People born overseas make up 36% of the Aussie broker network, with many more being second-generation Australians

are true, and then some. My parents came to Australia with absolutely nothing – no family, no English, no help – and raised three kids on their own. I wouldn’t have this life if it wasn’t for them risking everything to move to Australia.”

Phan says her parents’ experience had a huge influence on her values and work ethic.

“I hustle now so they can enjoy life the way they deserve to. Nothing gets handed to you in life; if you want to be rewarded, you’ve got to work.”

Becoming a mortgage broker was a “fluke”, Phan says. She started as an associate just to test the waters.

“I didn’t even know what an interest rate was. However, the idea of being able to help people achieve a goal really appealed to me.

Turns out I had a natural aptitude for sales and was really interested in how the home loan process works, so that helped me pick things up quite quickly.”

Phan says after becoming a broker she knew she had made the right call. “The home loan process can feel overwhelming for some people, so being able to simplify things for customers and help them achieve something significant is the most rewarding feeling.”

Phan believes it’s important for people from diverse backgrounds to see themselves represented in the industry.

“Diversity in the mortgage broking industry is crucial,” she says. “As our country is made up of people from such a broad range of backgrounds, broker diversity enables us as an industry to connect with more people and better assist their unique needs.”

She says organisations should actively celebrate the wins of people from diverse backgrounds and engage with them to ensure their needs are being met. “It’s good for brokerages and aggregators to champion diversity initiatives, whether that’s through in-house programs or by celebrating causes like Harmony Day.”

Amandip Singh A franchise partner at Aussie Melton in Melbourne, Singh spoke limited English when he arrived in Australia from India in 2006, but he has since carved out a successful career as a mortgage broker.

“I moved to Australia to pursue further study,” he says. “I quickly identified that I would be able to build a bright future for myself in this country, so I decided to stay here permanently.”

Singh studied to become an accountant but was drawn to mortgage broking after arranging

Aussie franchisee Jenny Pulford. They formed a partnership to open the Aussie Melton store in 2021, and the two are now co-franchisees at Aussie Melton. Singh also assists customers at the Craigieburn store. “[Jenny has] guided me every step of the way and has shaped me to become a better broker and businessman,” Singh says.

He says coming from a different ethnic background has allowed him to develop cultural awareness and sensitivity.

“Having lived in two different countries at different stages of life, I am able to relate to the experiences of people from culturally diverse backgrounds and treat them with empathy.

“My background has also been a huge influence on my work ethic, by fuelling me to work tirelessly to achieve the life I envision for myself.”

Singh says it’s important for a broker to build connections and trust with their customers to help them feel at ease.

“A diverse broking industry provides an opportunity for customers to access a broker whom they feel comfortable engaging with, whether that be because they speak the same language or share similar life experiences.”

Singh says it’s an honour to support other people from migrant backgrounds to build a life in this beautiful country and achieve the

“Having lived in two different countries at different stages of life, I am able to relate to the experiences of people from culturally diverse backgrounds and treat them with empathy” Amandip Singh, Aussie Home Loans his own home loan through a broker and realising it aligned with his genuine desire to help people. “People are my passion,” he says.

“In accounting I was at the computer all day.”

Singh started working as a broker at Aussie Craigieburn in 2014 under the guidance of

dream of homeownership. “I love getting to play a part in their success story.”

Aussie workshops and events also provide a great platform to network with a diverse group of brokers and benefit from shared experiences, Singh says.

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27

FEATURES

FIRST NATIONS COMMITMENT

Working to achieve reconciliation Liberty is dedicated to reconciliation with Indigenous Australians and has formed an action plan to attain that goal, says chief people officer Anne Bastian

AUSTRALIA HAS come a long way since its First Nations peoples were granted the right to vote in federal elections in 1967.

The government has apologised for policies that led to thousands of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children – known as the Stolen Generations – being removed from their parents. Efforts are being made to close the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians when it comes to life expectancy, health, education, housing, and incarceration rates. There is also a strong push to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the nation’s constitution, and in recent years there has been a wider acknowledgement and celebration of First Nations cultures.

But it’s clear that to create a better understanding of First Nations cultures and meaningful dialogue between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, it will require the efforts of individuals and organisations, not just the government.

Bastian says inclusion has always been important to Liberty and the company is proud to have “built and maintained an incredibly diverse and inclusive culture”.

“We recognise that being truly inclusive requires a commitment to reconciliation,” she

28

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says. “It’s not possible to create an inclusive society if First Nations peoples continue to experience significant discrimination and marginalisation.

“For Liberty, intending to contribute to a reconciled Australia is not enough – we must be accountable for our contribution to reconciliation.”

Bastian says Liberty is only at the beginning of its reconciliation journey, but its vision is clear. “It begins with creating an organisation that understands and respects Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures. At Liberty, we believe our community has a role to play in reconciliation, and we are keen to do our part.”

Working closely with Reconciliation Australia, Liberty has committed to a formal Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) designed to build awareness and provide tangible benefits for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. A RAP is a strategic document that outlines practical plans for action.

Bastian says Liberty’s inaugural Reflect RAP sets out a purposeful agenda with 33 deliverables identified within four pillars: relationships, respect, opportunity and governance. “The knowledge we gather through actioning these deliverables – and the relationships we form – will enable us to actively contribute to reconciliation.”

Liberty’s RAP follows Reconciliation Australia’s well-established framework, which aligns with its own organisational values: fair, learning, accountable, invested and resourceful. “We consider this our first step in building respectful and enduring relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities,” Bastian says.

Liberty is focusing on how it can partner with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities to create economic equity. It has partnered with the Kinaway Aboriginal Chamber of Commerce to connect and build relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander businesses. It will also soon be partnering with Supply Nation, Australia’s leader in supplier diversity.

The non-bank provides an annual online SBS Inclusion Program on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander inclusion for all staff to

FOUR PILLARS OF THE REFLECT RAP Relationships: Establish and strengthen mutually beneficial relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander stakeholders and organisations.

Respect: Increase understanding, value and recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, histories, knowledge and rights.

Opportunities: Improve employment outcomes by increasing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander recruitment, retention and professional development.

Governance: Establish and maintain an effective RAP Working Group (RWG) to drive governance of the RAP.

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complete. Bastian says the course is designed to help people understand the importance and advantages of Indigenous cultural diversity.

“In consultation with our internal Reconciliation Working Group, we have also launched a policy that specifically focuses on the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff members,” she says. “It supports them to attend culturally significant events and ceremonies that they will have during certain times.”

Liberty’s RAP also features a major site-specific commission titled Cultural Reflections – Infinite Interconnections by the highly regarded Barkindji artist Kent Morris (pictured right). Morris says the work “speaks of infinity, interconnection, respect and reconciliation through a First Nations lens”.

Bastian says as Liberty puts the Reflect RAP into action, “we gain a greater understanding of the needs of First Nations peoples”.

“We also increase our awareness of what is required of us to provide a supportive and inclusive environment. Everything we learn guides us to make changes in our business that will strengthen our ability to have an impact on reconciliation.”

The RAP deliverables to date have enabled staff to develop greater cultural awareness and professional development practices, Bastian says. “From our NAIDOC Week dance workshop to a moving Stolen Generations presentation, staff have enjoyed listening to and embraced a range of perspectives on reconciliation.”

One of the key actions of Liberty’s Reflect RAP is to improve employment outcomes by increasing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander recruitment, retention and professional development.

“First Nations peoples are welcome to apply for any advertised role with Liberty, knowing that our application process allows us to respond in a culturally appropriate manner,” says Bastian. “By continuing to build a welcoming and inclusive culture, we hope to extend career opportunities and encourage more First Nations people to join Liberty.”

“It’s not possible to create an inclusive society if First Nations peoples continue to experience significant discrimination and marginalisation” Anne Bastian, Liberty Liberty’s internal initiatives support a range of diversity dimensions, including gender, age, disability, LGBTQIA+ and cultural diversity.

“We’re continuing our work towards greater LGBTQIA+ awareness and advocacy at Liberty, and our Pride Network is helping to lead the way,” says Bastian.

Set up in 2019, the network aims to provide a safe space for LGBTQIA+ team members to support one another.

Liberty’s new cultural leave policy allows individuals to exchange an existing public holiday with a day that’s more relevant to their beliefs and traditions. There is also a policy designed to support staff and their partners who are undergoing fertility

treatment. It acknowledges the challenges that couples face and offers compassion, understanding and support.

Bastian says financial services has historically been a male-dominated industry, and Liberty is committed to gender equality and empowering its female leaders with guidance, training and support.

“We work closely with the Workplace Gender Equality Agency to monitor and improve opportunities for women across our organisation.”

Female staff are supported through a range of programs and partnerships with Work180, Grad Girls and Diversity Council Australia.

“Liberty is also a proud sponsor of MFAA Opportunities for Women,” says Bastian.

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29

FEATURES

PHILANTHROPY

Sharing the plentiful rewards of broking SFG-affiliated brokers Dee Rutherford, Christian Arsenis and Bernard Desmond discuss how they have benefited from a career in the industry and how it can help others THERE’S A reason Australia is called the lucky country. It enjoys one of the highest living standards in the world and has abundant natural resources, a strong economy and a thriving democracy.

Dee Rutherford and her brother Christian Arsenis, directors of Melbourne brokerage Evimero Finance, and Bernard Desmond, CEO of Melbourne brokerage Blank Financial, understand Australia’s good fortune.

Rutherford and Arsenis give 100% of their profits to charities each year. Desmond

only being profitable enough to pay ourselves a set wage but to also be able to give back to charities and not-for-profit organisations with 100% of the profits the business makes,” says Rutherford.

Evimero means ‘prosper’ in Greek, and Rutherford says the brokerage wants “to encourage people to realise their potential to prosper in life”. Based in Warrandyte, the business employs a team of seven, which it expects to grow to 11 by the end of September – with four brokers and seven support staff.

Rutherford’s heart. She and husband Dan set up the Kivuli Project in Kenya in 2010, when 40 orphans and vulnerable children were left displaced after their previous home closed.

“We felt called by God to sell our house and move to Kenya with our then one-year-old daughter to look after the children,” Rutherford says. “It initially started as a children’s home; however, it now supports children to live in family homes either by reconnecting them with their extended families or by connecting them into new families.”

The Kivuli Project focuses on the safety and welfare of children and families; counselling; COVID-19 relief measures; and family-strengthening initiatives.

CHARITIES SUPPORTED

BY EVIMERO IN 2022 Kivuli Project, Kenya: kivuliproject.org

“We are blessed with a successful business, and it fills our buckets to be able to bless others too” Dee Rutherford, Evimero Finance migrated to Australia from Dubai 10 years ago and set up a successful broker business and a new life for himself and his family.

MPA caught up with the brokers, who all aggregate with Specialist Finance Group.

Evimero Finance: sharing prosperity Dee Rutherford and Christian Arsenis set up their brokerage in October 2019.

“We felt led to establish Evimero, and set it up a little differently with the aim of not

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Explaining the brokerage’s philanthropic approach, Rutherford says there is potential to earn a “truckload of money” in the finance industry if you’re good at what you do, and there’s the temptation to adjust your lifestyle to suit your ever-expanding bank balance.

“But what for? We want to be generous with what we have and not only help our customers to prosper but others where we can too.”

While Evimero Finance supports different charities each year, one is especially close to

OM Australia: Christian mission agency SALT (Sport and Life Training): works to improve culture in sporting clubs Destiny Rescue: rescues children from sexual exploitation and human trafficking Just One Cambodia: capacity-building through business initiatives in Cambodia Mackay Animal Rescue Society Trudy Crowley Foundation: support for those affected by ovarian cancer CBM (Christian Blind Mission) The Light: community Christian radio Red Nose: support for those affected by the death of a baby or child

Sponsored by

Blank Financial: a career highlight Bernard Desmond was born in India to a middle-class family and moved to Dubai at the age of 22.

“I am the oldest of two kids,” he says.

“Growing up, my parents provided us with a great foundation through family values and education. I saw how my dad operated his business; a lot of my early learnings have come from watching him operate his business while raising a young family.”

While he had a comfortable life, Desmond says he was curious and wanted to travel abroad. He landed a job in logistics in Dubai and then moved into banking in 2006.

He married Lavinia in 2008, whose parents lived in Melbourne, and the couple moved to Australia in 2012 for a better future.

Desmond says initially he suffered from

Dee Rutherford with some children from the Kivuli Project in Kenya

Evimero Finance also supports Destiny Rescue, an Australian charity that rescues children from sexual exploitation and human trafficking in Latin America, Africa and Asia, and works to reintegrate them back into their communities.

“These vulnerable, innocent children deserve their lives back,” says Rutherford.

“The work of Destiny Rescue agents is extremely dangerous but vitally important.”

Rutherford says Evimero Finance doesn’t openly advertise to clients that it gives all its profits away.

“We are blessed with a successful business, and it fills our buckets to be able to bless others too. We want to challenge other successful business owners to be more generous with what they have. Just do something, give something to whatever cause may be close to your heart.”

So, how can the mortgage industry boost diversity and inclusion?

“Education and exposure,” says Arsenis.

“We know we are biased, but we think the mortgage industry is one the best, most rewarding service-oriented industries in Australia, helping people from all walks of life achieve financial freedom though home­

“This is a great industry that rewards and celebrates diversity” Bernard Desmond, Blank Financial ownership or helping investors structure their loan portfolios to maximise their returns.

“We help people achieve their financial goals, and we get paid well for it. It’s a great feeling and an even better vocation.”

Arsenis says few people, especially those from a disadvantaged background, know what brokers do.

“We think we are moving in the right direction though, with the amount of people using brokers to find the right loan for them.

But there’s not enough staff to manage the growing demand, and there’s a real opportunity for newcomers to learn, grow and forge a rewarding new career.

“We’d love to see the industry start working with refugee agencies, schools and universities, starting at the grassroots of education, offering traineeships and raising awareness of our wonderful industry,” says Arsenis. “We need newbies to cope with the growing demand, and it’s not happening fast enough.”

culture shock and struggled to find a job in lending, but he was eventually employed as a Westpac personal banker and then worked as an ME Bank mobile lending manager.

While he says he knew on arrival in Australia that he wanted to be a broker, he also wanted to provide for his family before starting his own business. In 2017, Desmond decided the time was right.

“It’s been one of the greatest highlights of my career and life. This is a great industry that rewards and celebrates diversity, accepts people from all backgrounds and provides them with equal opportunity to succeed. This one decision has transformed our family’s life for good. We are so grateful.”

Desmond says the mortgage industry provides rewarding career pathways, and these need to be showcased to the next generation.

He says SFG’s support has been instru­ mental in helping him grow as a person and business owner. “SFG is not just our business partner; they are truly part of our family.”

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FEATURES

COMMERCIAL LENDERS ROUNDTABLE 2022

OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS FOR BROKERS Buoyant is one word to describe the nation’s businesses, which have survived the pandemic and are looking for capital. A group of key commercial lenders and brokers joined MPA’s annual roundtable to talk about the market and where it’s heading 32

www.mpamagazine.com.au

DESPITE RISING inflation, higher interest rates, labour shortages and supply chain issues, commercial lending has held its own over the past 12 months.

Conditions remain strong for many small businesses as they bounce back from the COVID-19 pandemic and look for fast, efficient access to capital.

NAB’s Economic Data Insights EOFY Special Report, covering the week to 2 July 2022, showed a bigger than normal boom in spending almost across the board, combined with very strong business inflows.

“All states except NT and Tasmania gained, with Victoria and NSW,” said NAB Group chief economist Alan Oster. “Results were especially strong in mining, manufacturing, hospitality and construction.”

While the major bank’s monthly business survey for June showed business confidence had fallen to a below-average +1 index point as global uncertainty, interest rate hikes and inflation clouded the outlook, business conditions remained strong across Australia and most industries, including retail.

As the residential property market softens, the opportunity for brokers to boost their business through commercial offerings grows. Supply chain problems mean SMEs need quick access to cash flow.

There are also fewer players in commercial broking and therefore less competition.

While the latest MFAA Industry Intelligence Service report shows that the number of mortgage brokers also writing commercial loans rose to 5,268 in April–September 2021, this was still just 28.8% of all brokers.

To discuss the opportunities for brokers and the state of the market, MPA brought together some of the major players in commercial finance for its 2022 Commercial Lenders Roundtable, held at Café Sydney.

Attendees included Chris Thomas, executive commercial broker and equipment finance sales, NAB; John Mohnacheff, group sales manager, Liberty; Ivan Mioc, general manager commercial broker, ANZ; Robynne Frost, former executive manager of broker partnerships, business banking, Suncorp Bank; Cory Bannister, senior vice president

and chief lending officer, La Trobe Financial; Cameron Poolman, CEO, OnDeck; Jonathan Street, CEO, Thinktank; and Steve Sampson, chief commercial officer, Prime Capital.

Representing commercial brokers were Isabella Constantinou, associate director at Simplicity Loans & Advisory and winner of MPA’s Top Commercial Brokers for 2022, and Nick Wilcox, an associate director at Blue Crane Capital.

Pepper Money head of commercial Malcolm Withers was unable to attend in person but provided his views in writing.

What trends have occurred in the commercial lending space over the last 12 months?

The discussion kicked off with Cory Bannister tackling the first question.

“The last 12 months have been a period of rebound for a lot of the commercial sector post COVID restrictions,” he said. “Some sectors, retail being one, hospitality, tourism – those that you would expect to rebound is what we’ve seen.”

However, Bannister said there were likely to be some headwinds on the way for those sectors, given the Reserve Bank’s two 50 basis point increases to the official cash rate in June and July. He said that while it had been a really strong 12 months of rebound for retail, hospitality and tourism, “they’re not out of the woods yet”.

“Industrial logistics, on the back of the e-commerce boom, has done incredibly well and is likely to prosper for the foreseeable future,” Bannister said.

Office attendance had recovered better than expected, with more and more employers now calling for staff to come back in.

“The final component we see good demand for is construction, which is one area of commercial that’s had a really challenging 12 months, and it’s likely to have another challenging 12 to 24 months in relation to supply issues and staff shortages.”

La Trobe Financial remains calm but cautious regarding construction, Bannister said. “It’s a really finely balanced segment that requires lenders’ support to ensure the

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33

FEATURES

COMMERCIAL LENDERS ROUNDTABLE 2022 THE PANELLISTS

Cory Bannister Senior vice president and chief lending officer, La Trobe Financial

Robynne Frost Former executive manager of broker partnerships, business banking, Suncorp Bank

Ivan Mioc General manager commercial broker, ANZ

John Mohnacheff Group sales manager, Liberty

Cameron Poolman CEO, OnDeck

Steve Sampson Chief commercial officer, Prime Capital

BROKERS

Jonathan Street CEO, Thinktank

Chris Thomas Executive commercial broker and equipment finance sales, NAB

sector continues to progress. However, you do need to go about it in a really careful and cautious way.”

He said commercial was a natural hedge against inflation, and it was an asset class that, despite some challenges, was likely to attract further strong demand and perform well over the next few years as “residential cools a little bit”.

“There’s still huge pockets of investor capital chasing high-quality assets which produce a good yield with less volatility than perhaps equities or crypto, for example – both of which were popular in the last two or three years.”

Robynne Frost said that in the small business sector, Suncorp Bank had seen businesses increasingly purchasing their own premises.

“So that’s to escape the fear of being at the mercy of the landlord via increases in rent, and [due to] concerns about landlord hardship or selling to capitalise on property values,” she said.

“We’ve also seen a lot more confidence in start-up businesses prepared to take on

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Malcolm Withers Head of commercial, Pepper Money

Isabella Constantinou Associate director, Simplicity Loans & Advisory

Nick Wilcox Associate director, Blue Crane Capital

“We have the largest agri bank across Australia, and what we’re seeing is that global instability is continuing good, strong demand for Australian produce” Chris Thomas, NAB significant debt, which is encouraging.”

Frost said Suncorp Bank had seen strong demand for property development finance, supported by buyer demand and availability of residential property, but there had been supply challenges impacting the availability and price of building materials.

She has also seen a significant increase in lending for warehousing, due to growth in demand from property developers as well as renovators.

“Developers are now actually either getting all of the supplies up front, storing them, or even asking their suppliers to hold on to them. Quite a few developers have gone under

recently because of supply issues,” said Frost.

Chris Thomas concurred, adding that regional Australia was another part of the economy that was growing strongly.

“We have the largest agri bank across Australia, and what we’re seeing is that the global instability is continuing good, strong demand for Australian produce,” he said.

“Despite some of the weather challenges, including floods, regional Australians are really living up to their reputation, and their farmers are very resilient. They are in extremely good shape. They are looking to expand, and their only constraint is essentially lack of labour.”

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COMMERCIAL LENDERS ROUNDTABLE 2022 Thomas said labour shortages were an ongoing concern in capital cities for trading businesses but more acutely in regional parts of the country. “But the positivity of that is it’s forcing innovation, and we’re a seeing strong demand for equipment financing as farmers move to future-proof their businesses through automation.”

and great communities but have struggled to attract people in the past.

“Now it’s drawing people to them. Maybe the pandemic has brought a shift back to understanding what the opportunities are in regional Australia,” he said.

Commenting on the SME market, Steve Sampson said small businesses were coming

“Many SMEs are looking to invest more into their businesses post-pandemic.

The opportunities for brokers are there, especially with an estimated two million SMEs in Australia desiring a trusted business adviser” Malcolm Withers, Pepper Money The flow-on effect was that for the first time in a long time, resilient country towns were growing beyond their traditional footprint of families and communities, “which is driving more businesses and population growth”, Thomas said.

He said this was exciting because these regional towns have positive infrastructure

to Prime Capital for funding. “We’re seeing the requirements for working capital for customers that used to be bankable a couple of years ago who are now finding it difficult to get working capital from the majors,” he said.

“A lot of customers are coming to us; we’re basically bridging them while they’re recovering so that they can be bankable again.”

Sampson said SMEs also wanted funds quickly. He agreed with Frost’s earlier point about tenancy issues. “With interest rates being low, it’s been cheaper to buy premises than to rent premises. Commercial purchases are at the fore; as the economy picks up, we’ll see more and more of that happening I think.”

Adding to Thomas’s comments about agri finance, Frost said Suncorp Bank had a strong agri book.

“A strong trend we’re seeing is succession planning [in farming]. Mum and dad are moving out or retiring, and the kids are taking over,” she said.

Cameron Poolman said OnDeck, like the other lenders, saw the same trends in terms of commercial finance growth across the board.

“We’re seeing probably a bit more granularity in construction – the ones that we’re wary about are the fixed-price contracts; builders are stuck with supply chain inflationary pressures,” said Poolman.

Australia also differed slightly from other overseas markets, Poolman said. “You look to the US – everyone’s quite pessimistic about how the world’s going to look and around consumer confidence, and we don’t feel like that.

“Matt Comyn [Commonwealth Bank CEO] just came back from the US with a

INCREASING NUMBER OF MORTGAGE BROKERS ALSO WRITING COMMERCIAL LOANS Number of mortgage brokers writing commercial loans

6,000 5,000

5,268

4,000 3,000 2,000

2,374

2,627

3,668

3,617

3,481

3,670

Oct 17– Mar 18

Apr 18– Sept 18

Oct 18– Mar 19

Apr 19– Sept 19

4,486

4,539

4,727

Oct 19– Mar 20

Apr 20– Sept 20

Oct 20– Mar 21

2,932

1,000 0

Apr 16– Sept 16

Oct 16– Mar 17

Apr 17– Sept 17

Apr 21– Sept 21

Source: MFAA Industry Intelligence Service, 13th edition, April–September 2021

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FEATURES

COMMERCIAL LENDERS ROUNDTABLE 2022 across three keys areas: debt structuring, access to longer loan terms, and access to higher LVRs. “This has provided customers with access to debt solutions that empower them, using a loan structure that best works for them, whether it be reduced repayments through longer loan terms, reducing the deposit needed to enter the commercial property market, or debt consolidation allowing the customer to refinance their debts to a lower repayment.”

What sectors of the economy are thriving and need finance?

For Liberty the biggest trend was a change in financial planning, said John Mohnacheff.

“The moment financial advisers went feefor-service, they were less inclined to protect their asset base. More and more of them are similar perspective that Australia may not be as negatively impacted as what we’re seeing in the US.” Poolman said small businesses were borrowing money to add cash because the supply chain was really difficult, and they just didn’t have time to access capital when an order came in.

“And so that’s a new thing for us. They actually don’t have a purpose; they just want cash.”

Sampson said SMEs were experiencing a “perfect storm”, in that they were not able to get cash but their property values had increased over the last few years, so they could tap into those properties to secure cash to get them through.

Thomas said this highlighted that brokers, bankers working with brokers, and their credit teams really needed to understand all elements of the supply chain.

“Unpicking that for customers really does present an opportunity for brokers to present lots of different solutions to speed up the access to capital. Access to capital still remains a big issue,” he said.

Due to the lack of staff, the aspiration to “own four restaurants is gone”, Poolman added.

“They’re going to own one and have a really

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“We’re seeing a lot more commercial bankers [shift into broking], and it’s a credit to all of us in the room that have been involved in the industry” Robynne Frost, Suncorp Bank cool online offering and invest in that,” he said. “And so utilise things that don’t require people. I’m not sure how that’s going to play out into the future.”

At ANZ, Ivan Mioc said the need for working capital wasn’t a trend a year ago.

“I think the pandemic put a lot of deposits into the banks,” he said. “Now we’re starting to see that probably taper off, and the requirement for working capital has started to pick up.”

Cafes, restaurants and accommodation industries were lifting, he added. “I think local accommodation, particularly in the country, is starting to really pick up; where perhaps pre-pandemic people were probably travelling more overseas, now they’re moving around Australia.”

Malcolm Withers said Pepper Money had seen customers needing help and assistance

starting to say, ‘well, you really do need a diversified portfolio beyond managed funds’. As a result, we’ve seen an enormous spike in selfmanaged funds and limited recourse borrowing arrangements,” Mohnacheff said.

Agreeing with Bannister’s point about businesses changing from rentals to property purchases, he said business owners were now able to make large lump-sum contributions through their super funds and use that asset to buy a commercial property.

“That’s burgeoning. It’s a really wonderful thing,” Mohnacheff said. “Financial planners are starting to get on board and are recommending that. So the trend is working more closely with financial planners, and that’s an absolute benefit for the entire economy.”

Thinktank had also seen a significant shift in its borrowers, said Jonathan Street.

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COMMERCIAL LENDERS ROUNDTABLE 2022 “Businesses are resilient; the pandemic has taught us that. They’ve adapted to new ways of operating, and we’ve got a strong economy backed well by financiers” Ivan Mioc, ANZ About 90% of Thinktank borrowers are self-employed SMEs, and 80% have been self-employed for five years or more.

“Where these borrowers would have come to us in the past and borrowed through personal names, companies or trusts, they’re increasingly shifting to self-managed super funds because of the long-term wealth advantages of those, plus the ability to manage cash flow effectively,” said Street.

Business owners could also put surplus funds into their SMSFs or adjust rent within the current market range to manage their cash flow in the business.

Street said SMSFs were also an asset protection mechanism: if COVID-19 lockdowns or other unforeseen circumstances arose, the property in the SMSF was protected from other creditors.

A lot of commercial borrowing was attached to warehouse and industrial, he said, with borrowers looking to acquire premises so they could run a “business that will be flexible and adaptable under changing circumstances”, particularly in infrastructure, support services, logistics and distribution.

“It’s the same themes that Steve and Cameron mentioned around cash flow and managing their borrowings to give them extra flexibility should different circumstances present,” Street said.

“We’re also seeing a lot of professionals moving back out to the suburbs and buying property there because of the decentralisation away from the CBDs and hybrid working.”

Street said it was a great time for brokers because there were more reasons to talk to their clients and support their business referrers with options for lending in multiple ways.

Withers’ view was that industries performing strongly included those that serviced the digital economy, businesses that provided bespoke manufacturing of parts, and the energy industry, which had grown significantly in the past few years.

“This has resulted in strong performance in assets such as warehouse/industrial, and we are seeing a strong appetite by investors for recovering assets such as retail and strata management, especially in suburban areas,” he said.

Isabella Constantinou said everyone was sharing great insights.

She said more was happening in the industrial space in terms of commercial and investment assets, with businesses looking to improve logistics. She also highlighted the growing regional centres as an opportunity for growth for investors and developers.

“One area that I particularly have seen a lot of growth in recently is regional property,” Constantinou said.

Where developers had typically “played in the metro areas”, they were now seeking regional areas to set up land hubs and tap into growing regional markets. “I definitely see that in the property development space as some potential for growth there.”

But Constantinou said the biggest recent trend was clients being uncertain about what they wanted to do. “They might come to us with an inquiry and then take three months to decide whether they actually want to proceed with it, whereas typically, it might have taken three weeks.”

Nick Wilcox said industrial finance was the top priority for his clients.

“Traditionally, my clients have been a mix of SME borrowers and commercial investors. They previously would have wanted to buy a house or a resi investment property, but now they are becoming more educated on the appeal of commercial property, yields and capital growth for certain asset classes.

Also, we’ve seen an uplift in PAYG clients also getting into commercial investment properties,” Wilcox said.

“It’s a lot more common now to buy a commercial property; there’s lenders doing

RISING VALUE OF COMMERCIAL LENDING SETTLED

BY MORTGAGE BROKERS ($) 13.40bn

8.05bn

7.90bn

Apr 16– Sept 16

Oct 16– Mar 17

8.85bn

8.94bn

9.05bn

Apr 17– Sept 17

Oct 17– Mar 18

Apr 18– Oct 18– Apr 19– Sept 18 Mar 19 Sept 19

8.79bn

8.99bn

9.69bn

9.37bn

Oct 19– Mar 20

Apr 20– Sept 20

10.27bn

Oct 20– Apr 21– Mar 21 Sept 21

Source: MFAA Industry Intelligence Service, 13th edition, April–September 2021

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FEATURES

COMMERCIAL LENDERS ROUNDTABLE 2022 lease-doc [loans], doing a lot of them at 70% LVR. “A lot of lenders also help clients with buying their owner-occupied property at 80% to 85% LVR, with low rates over a 30-year term, similar to a home loan repayment structure which helps with cash flow.”

Wilcox said he had a lot of clients with SMSFs, both for investment and owneroccupier purchases, but mainly commercial.

companies getting into trouble due to supply chain problems and interest rates, which were only going to get worse, Sampson said.

“Counterbalancing that, you’ve got businesses that are bringing back manufacturing to Australia because of those reasons, and that has got a direct flow-on then to property.”

Manufacturing businesses were looking for industrial property, and he believed this was a good thing for the economy.

“We’ve seen an enormous spike in self-managed funds and limited recourse borrowing arrangements.

Working more closely with financial planners, accountants and advisers is an absolute benefit for the entire economy” John Mohnacheff, Liberty How are rising costs, higher interest rates, supply chain issues and staff shortages affecting businesses and commercial lending?

Frost said SMEs were operating in different ways to complement or maximise their cash flow. “A trend we’re seeing is more businesses with outstanding tax debt, and the government is now starting to offer formalised, structured repayments. This illustrates businesses have been struggling with cash flow.”

In addition, Suncorp Bank has been seeing a trend of businesses choosing to arrange monthly payments for services such as electricity instead of paying them off on a yearly basis, Frost said.

Sampson pointed out that interest rates hadn’t really kicked in yet. “So it’s hard to say really how business is going, because we’ve never written as much business, but that might be a part of the market that we operate in to help those customers and get from A to B.” Construction had experienced pain points, including the fallout caused by large building

“One thing that’s come out of a pandemic is that we’ve realised that we can’t control the supply chain, and it’s going to run havoc with our economy until we do,” Sampson said.

Poolman said small businesses were impacted by consumer confidence, which had dropped, but this may have been affected by people coming out of the pandemic.

“Traditionally, we look at discretionary spending and see what small businesses are impacted by that, but we just haven’t seen them impacted yet, so that’s something we’re watching really carefully.”

Short-term unsecured loans offered by OnDeck were not generally promoted through advisers, Poolman said. “We’re speaking to a lot of our customers – their accountants are actually saying this is a good idea for you to have this cash available to do what you want with.”

Bannister said labour was also causing an issue. “We really need to accelerate migration back to those historically normalised levels.

Everywhere you look there’s labour shortages.”

He said the shortage of workers was creating pressure, both in terms of having people actually doing the work, but also its impact on wages: in some sectors, wages had been pushed to record levels.

“In our sector, for instance, the cost of recruitment has increased significantly, and I query the sustainability of that shift.”

This was “super important” to solve a lot of challenges for commercial and SME businesses, Bannister said.

Mohnacheff said immigration was the key to addressing staff shortages. He said if Australia adopted the new policy (which had been in place in New Zealand for years), which he described as a “wonderful, welcoming approach to labour”, it would go a “long, long

ECONOMIC SIGNIFICANCE OF SMALL BUSINESS LENDING The vital part SMEs play in the Australian economy – data as at June 2020

There are

They employ more than

SMEs generate

SMEs in Australia

Australians

of the economy’s output

2.4 million

7.4 million

>$700bn

Source: Small Business Access to Finance: The Evolving Lending Market research paper, Australian Productivity Commission, 30 September 2021

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way to fixing our supply chain issues and our labour shortages”.

“They’re not going to come in and start farming in the major cities,” Mohnacheff said. “They will come and actively work in these emerging wonderful rural communities which have been horribly underserviced.”

Thomas switched the discussion to interest rates, which he said were very topical.

“We’re still in a very low interest rate environment, particularly around the commercial side,” he said. “This is a fantastic opportunity for commercial brokers to be able to unpack for their clients what a rising interest rate environment looks like and put context around it, in respect to what the opportunity is of investing in their business.”

Thomas said if the trusted adviser emerged from that, it would be someone offering advice and comfort by dissecting the impact of rates and other challenges affecting SMEs. “Interest rates rising alone should not be a deterrent from future business investment when this country has such a fantastic opportunity to seize the day,” he said.

Thomas agreed with Poolman’s comment about Australia being in a good position.

“We have to keep reminding ourselves of that sometimes, and not getting caught in the headline,” he said.

Street echoed Thomas’s comments and said low interest rates and intense competition meant that the cost of borrowing had insulated businesses’ ability to contend with these factors.

“As rates rise, there will be an increasing challenge for borrowers and businesses to deal with these very front and centre issues that aren’t going away any time soon,” he said.

“It’s the best time for brokers to be closely involved with their clients to help them through the many challenges that we’re going to have ahead, because cash flow is going to tighten quite a lot over the coming months.”

Mohnacheff added that the ATO had returned to its pre-COVID debt collection diligence. “They were on a little hiatus for two years as many struggled through COVID lockdowns and hardship, but the government collection agency is now going to be quite

serious in collecting that [tax debt].

“Brokers should be aware, not panic.

There are lenders out there who don’t mind tax debt. Right? You’ve got a tax debt because you’ve made a profit.”

Mioc said ANZ knew that businesses were resilient. “The pandemic has taught us that.

They’ve adapted to new ways of operating, and I think most points about labour are right, and all the things we’ve spoken to.

“But I genuinely think that we’ve got a strong economy backed well by financiers, and I think businesses will see this through; we’ve already seen that.”

In response, Street said: “Well, the last thing the RBA wants to do is pull the rug out.

They don’t want to see unemployment dramatically rise; they don’t want to precipitate widespread business failures.”

There’s a record number of mortgage brokers moving into commercial finance. What’s attracting them?

Wilcox said for most brokers the attraction to commercial was to be able to help their clients with all their finance needs, ensuring they were offering the full suite of lending options for property transactions.

If the residential broker referred their client to a commercial broker, they could be at risk of losing the client altogether, so those trusted partnerships were important, he said.

“It’s hard to say no to a client. Most mortgage brokers are individual operators, so if you’ve got a network of clients and you get an opportunity, it’s a difficult conversation to turn a client away or on to another operator.”

It was also getting easier for brokers to offer commercial lending in the investment and owner-occupier spaces, Wilcox said, adding that trade publications such as MPA were also encouraging brokers to diversify.

However, “there’s some brokers that don’t want to do it,” he said. “I get residential brokers giving us deals who say, ‘I want to stick in my lane; I’ll give you the commercial’.”

Constantinou agreed that there were definitely opportunities for residential brokers to diversify into commercial.

“Since COVID, there’s been such immense competition in the market with some of the major banks that pulled out of certain assets in commercial lending,” she said. “There was so much competition in the non-bank space and so much opportunity for alternative lending solutions.

“Like Nick said, the lease-doc solution is a

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COMMERCIAL LENDERS ROUNDTABLE 2022 Sampson said every time Prime Capital did a webinar or training “we’ll get an application that brokers didn’t know they could set, and very soon after we get another one”.

It was up to commercial SME lenders in the space to educate brokers, he said.

“I think the stat is 28% of [residential] brokers have written one commercial loan last year. It should be a lot more than that.

They’ve got self-employed people on their books. We try and teach our brokers how to mine that database to see who might be available and how we can really make them solution providers as against just brokers.”

Diversification had been a long time in the making, said Street, who praised the good work of aggregators, industry associations such as the MFAA and FBAA, and lenders for educating brokers and helping them workvery easy way for resi brokers to write some commercial business if they see that their client has an investment property in their portfolio. It’s a very simple way to start.”

Constantinou said residential brokers could easily dabble in commercial finance if they had a fundamental base knowledge of it.

“I think there’s a great support system within the industry to help resi brokers gain more knowledge on how to play in the commercial space.”

Residential brokers could get involved in commercial lending through a referral network or by writing business directly through banks, she pointed out.

“If you’re trying to do both, say, 50–50, that’s where it becomes quite difficult, because the home loan space is so regulated; there’s so many policies that don’t necessarily apply to commercial,” said Constantinou.

Mioc said the broker aggregators had done a really good job of promoting diversification through their education streams.

“That’s great from the aggregators’ perspective but also for the brokers to be offering a full service to their clients, and as Nick mentioned, the additional income stream is also valuable for brokers,” he said.

“We invest heavily in making sure that as

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“When I first started, only 50% of people used a mortgage broker; now it’s 70% – so these guys are actually going to use a broker to get their commercial finance” Cameron Poolman, OnDeck brokers are diversifying, they’re getting the right education; they’re learning about the complexity of servicing commercial customers. So, I think, more broadly, the industry is kind of pushing this way, which allows the broker to retain and then grow stronger relationships with their customers, and I think that’s an absolute trend in the industry.”

Sampson said the home loan market was very crowded, so he questioned whether brokers would want to play in that pool or would find it easier going elsewhere.

“My BDMs this year are not BDMs in the real sense; they’re coaches and they’re trainers. We’re spending a lot of time talking to brokers about how we operate, our differences, and how easy it can be to write commercial finance.”

shop deals so their clients could take advantage of lending opportunities.

“What we’re seeing more recently is just the broader lender landscape has become much more broker friendly. The majors used to try and resist dealing with brokers and commercial, but now they’ve had a renaissance and they’re actively out there supporting and offering better deals, better engagement, better processes.”

Street said there was still a long way to go, but it “was coming together with a lot of effort across the industry”.

Another emerging trend, said Frost, was an increase in people choosing broking as a career. “We’re seeing a lot more commercial bankers [shift into broking], and it’s a credit to all of us in the room that have been involved in the industry.”

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COMMERCIAL LENDERS ROUNDTABLE 2022 Frost said broking was not only an incredible career choice but would lead to growth in commercial finance.

“I think that by having more experienced commercial bankers join the industry, this has really helped us balance out the skill base of brokers.

“There’s a big difference between a lazy commercial transaction crossing a home loan broker’s desk, as opposed to a goodquality broker who is really committed to diversification.”

Frost said there were plenty of options for brokers; “if it’s just the one [commercial] transaction, a referral program is a better outcome for that customer”.

Mioc agreed there had been a trend of new brokers being accredited who were formerly commercial and corporate bankers and “really understand the complexity of commercial transactions”, and perhaps that wasn’t happening pre-pandemic.

“We’ve seen more mortgage brokers diversify, and we’re seeing more good commercial and corporate bankers entering the commercial broker industry,” Mioc said.

Thomas supported the point that growth was coming from both mortgage brokers moving into commercial and the ex-business banker who wanted to become a commercial broker.

“Touching on the industry bodies and the aggregators, I would say the work has only just begun,” he said, “because a number of the bankers going into broking get quickly consumed by volume and need to spend time on their businesses.”

He said there was a great opportunity for the industry to support new small business owners in growing their businesses over and above customer interactions and transactions by helping them recruit staff, develop their strategies and build their businesses.

He added that mortgage brokers also had to ask themselves: What was their core?

What was their value proposition? How did it fit into a broader strategy? “Commercial may not be for everyone, just as mortgages are not just for everyone,” Thomas said.

Sampson argued that the more diversified

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“Industrial logistics, on the back of the e-commerce boom, has done incredibly well and is likely to prosper for the foreseeable future” Cory Bannister, La Trobe Financial a broker’s book was, the more valuable it was – that had been proven many times. “So, if they have a mix of home loans, commercial and leasing, you’re going have a much more valuable business.”

Street said it was also a defensive play for brokers to offer that wider value proposition.

“So, if the client is going to think about their need for residential, commercial, or other types of finance, they ring their broker first and not the bank, or may be introduced to another broker via an accountant or a lawyer.

So they become more of a relationship manager and control the client link.”

Poolman agreed. He said that with 2.4 million small businesses in Australia and one in five consumers running a small business, there were big opportunities for brokers.

“When I first started, only 50% of people used a mortgage broker; now it’s 70% – so

these guys are actually going to use a broker to get their commercial finance.

“If you don’t do it, they’re going to go somewhere else. Do you want to hand your relationship to someone else? Everyone’s getting better at engaging with brokers from a funding point of view.

“In our type of product, it’s six months of bank statements and you’ve got an approval in two hours, and that’s actually getting easier for the brokers to deal with and service the customer.”

Withers said that despite supply chain disruptions, increasing expenses, staff shortages and wage pressure, SMEs were confident about pivoting their businesses and finding new opportunities to thrive.

“Many SME owners are looking to invest more into their businesses post-pandemic.

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COMMERCIAL LENDERS ROUNDTABLE 2022 especially with an estimated two million SMEs in Australia desiring a trusted business adviser. Brokers are increasingly sought after to help SMEs achieve their short- and long-term business goals.”

there was a long growth trajectory for a residential broker’s business.

“They can pick one segment, learn what they need to learn, start playing in that area of commercial, and then once they’ve got their

“Residential brokers can easily dabble in commercial finance if they have a fundamental base knowledge of it. There’s a great support system in the industry to help them gain more knowledge” Isabella Constantinou, Simplicity Loans & Advisory What are the advantages for brokers diversifying into commercial lending, and how do you support them to be successful?

Constantinou said the commercial space was so complex and vast compared to residential finance. “I think what deters a lot of residential brokers is that there’s so many different facets of it. Maybe they don’t know where to start.”

From an educational and professional development perspective, Constantinou said

handle on that, move into something else and slowly grow their business until such point where they might be writing a little bit in all segments of the commercial lending space.”

Having a support network and being educated by industry bodies and lenders was key so brokers didn’t feel commercial lending was “a daunting space to enter into”, she said.

Wilcox said the aggregators, the MFAA and banks were now doing a much better job of supporting brokers to diversify into commercial finance. Formerly a small

business banker at St. George Bank for six years, he said a lot of residential brokers would contact him, and he would educate them or write a deal for them.

Mohnacheff said a very interesting statistic illustrated the importance of commercial lending.

“If you ask any family that’s taken a home loan through a broker and in two years’ time ask them who the broker was, 95% will not be able to tell you – fact,” he said.

“It’s been proven by Aussie and all the big resi writers: it’s very difficult just to remember that one transaction. But when you have a commercial transaction with a broker, you don’t do it like, ‘oh, I’ve got to get rid of this customer really quick; I only want to touch them once, I want to move on to my next deal’ – you work with that individual.”

The connections or “sinews” between a commercial customer and their broker were far stronger, said Mohnacheff. “Commercial people will go back to the well again and again.

Once they’re there, it’s wonderful repeat business, and as their business grows, so will the broker’s business. There’s so many more touchpoints along the life cycle of a commercial loan than there ever is in a home loan.”

Bannister said there were four key benefits to broker diversification.

Firstly, it would diversify the broker’s

SHARE OF SMES FINDING IT DIFFICULT TO ACCESS FINANCE 50%

Relatively difficult

40% 30% 20%

Relatively easy

10% 0% -10%

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

-20% -30%

Net balance

-40% *Since July 2019, surveyed SMEs have been asked about their perceived ability to access finance currently compared to two months ago. Prior to this, SMEs were asked for their assessment on access to finance at a point in time. ‘Net balance’ is the share of SMEs stating that it is relatively easy to access finance, less the share stating that it is relatively difficult.

Source: Sensis Business Index

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COMMERCIAL LENDERS ROUNDTABLE 2022 and see and have something to do with regularly. The other ones just get lost in that noise of blasts from the BDMs about new policies or rates,” she said.

“Some lenders would see more business just by appearing in front of us and saying, ‘Hey, guys, this is our offering. This is how we can support you as brokers; this is how we can support your clients; and this is where we have a distinguishing factor for a lot of transactions’.”

Constantinou said this was a key factor, and she tended to use the same lenders over and over again because it was self-fulfilling.

“I end up building a better relationship with those certain BDMs, so then we’re able to facilitate what we think is a better option for the client, but there might be something out there that we’re not even aware of, because some of the banks just may not be as forefront for us,” she said. revenue stream. “You haven’t got all your eggs in a particular segment of the market, so if you’re a residential broker and the market turns, you’re not left exposed,” he said. “I think it’s really important when we talked about the rising-rate environment, commercial being a natural hedge.”

The second benefit for brokers was being able to market themselves to a wider audience and originate more customers who supported the broker’s residential business.

Thirdly, the broker could protect their revenue stream by protecting their customer footprint. “Because if you don’t service them, they will call the bank or another broker, and once they’re gone for the commercial transaction, as to John’s point, you helped them during the hardest stuff; the easy stuff goes as well.”

Bannister said the fourth benefit was protection against regulatory change. “Up until two months ago, we still had the spectre of a rem [remuneration] review hanging over the broker industry. Thankfully, that appears to have been stayed for now, but one thing 2020 taught us is to expect the unexpected, and don’t think that perhaps it won’t go around again. So I think commercial could be looked at as regulatory hedge to the residential space.”

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“Our business sits behind the broker, helping them build their business.

It’s about making sure they have all the support, tools and information that helps them do their job quickly and efficiently” Jonathan Street, Thinktank Frost said one area where more support could be required was with the lending choices commercial brokers offered to clients.

“We talk about best interest duty – more commercial brokers are talking to us about ‘we want to make sure we’re providing the right choice for our customers’,” she said.

“I actually think, as a collective industry, we have to do a better job of keeping our brokers informed of all commercial product choices available to their customers.”

Frost admitted it would require extensive lender support, but she said it definitely warranted consideration.

From a broker’s perspective, Constantinou said it was an “out of sight, out of mind thing”.

“We deal with the lenders that we speak to

Withers said momentum was continuing to build for brokers eager to diversify into commercial lending.

“Brokers can diversify their revenue stream and build stronger relationships with clients not just for home loans but for those looking for business solutions also,” he said.

He said Pepper Money tools such as the Pepper Product Selector, over 20 years of specialist and SME knowledge, dedicated BDMs around Australia, and a real-life approach to making deals happen created a game changer for business owners and brokers.

“We are long-term advocates for the training and education of brokers, and actively support brokers with regular training,” Withers said.

“Our current training program covers technical-based training on our products and policies, assessing customers’ income and servicing, as well as training focused on developing confidence by giving brokers the tools they need to identify an opportunity and have a quality conversation around it.”

Sampson said one of the approaches Prime Capital took was to not just teach or show brokers the products but actually show them the market. “So, where is the commercial market, the SME market? Where are the gaps in that market? How can you fulfil them? And how can you actually mine your database to find those little pearls that will diversify your business?”

Some studies have shown that SMEs find it difficult to access finance, or don’t know where to go.

How are you reaching these customers and ensuring a smooth loan process for brokers and clients?

Thomas said the question about access to capital was one that came up regularly.

“So clearly, as an industry, we have to keep working harder at connecting to the 2.4 million small businesses, and for NAB’s part, what we promise to brokers is that

we will give you access to the best of NAB. “With many agri centres, business centres in metropolitan areas, a lot of specialists and support bankers, our BDMs, all up on any one given day we’ll have about 800 of our

them to draw down on those products, services, insights and advice to support them in their conversations.

He said the bank wanted to build longterm relationships with both brokers and

“Traditionally, my clients have been a mix of SME borrowers and commercial investors, but now I’ve seen an uplift in PAYG clients” Nick Wilcox, Blue Crane Capital colleagues connecting with brokers. We want to support those brokers to connect with more customers.”

Regional locations were as important as metro locations in making sure all clients that needed support had those connectivity points, Thomas said. “Part of it’s about products and services, but a lot of it’s about insight and partnership. We very clearly see brokers as trusted advisers.”

Thomas said the role NAB looked to play with its brokers was to give them access to what it had as a big national bank and allow

their customers. “That is the essence of commercial relationship banking, relationship broking: be there three, four times a year for them when they need you.”

Thinktank deals only with brokers, so Street said the non-bank’s job was to support brokers and their clients.

He said whether brokers were seeking alternative verification loans that were faster and simpler, or an equity release, an 80% LVR, or a loan size of up to $4m, Thinktank wanted them to have a succinct view of what it could offer as a lender and where it wasn’t able to help.

“It’s all about being clear with brokers as to where we can help, so we don’t waste their time,” Street said. “It’s really just making sure that our business sits behind the broker, helping them build their business. We’re not after access to the client or the client relationship. It’s about making sure that the broker has all the support, tools and information that helps them do their job as quickly and as efficiently as they can.”

Mohnacheff said Liberty was also purely broker, and one of the niches it had relied on for a very long time was accountants.

“Brokers would say to us, ‘we’re struggling getting referral sources’, and we would say, ‘have you tried accountants?’

“You go to an accountant because you’re the one to start a company, to help companies in financial difficulty, or to assist those with an ATO debt, right? That’s small businesses;

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COMMERCIAL LENDERS ROUNDTABLE 2022 that’s why they go to an accountant. They don’t go to an accountant and say, ‘can you give me a home loan?’ ” But Mohnacheff said that if brokers went to an accountant and said, “Do you have any customers that have an ATO debt, cash flow problems, want to buy a commercial property, or are setting up an SMSF?”, they probably would.

finance, taxes, anything non-residential. “My trick is I speak to that accountant, I build a relationship, I go to meet them for coffee.”

Poolman said small businesses would find it easier to access capital if they knew where to look.

“Around this table, we’re all quite complementary to each other in terms of products and customers that we service. If a customer

“My BDMs this year are not BDMs in the real sense – they’re coaches and they’re trainers. We’re spending a lot of time talking to brokers about how we operate, our differences, and how easy it can be to write commercial finance” Steve Sampson, Prime Capital “It is a lay down misère – that’s where they deal.”

Mohnacheff said Liberty helped brokers expand their referral networks by gaining a better understanding of and forming deeper relationships with their accountants.

“There’s thousands; every small business should have or probably does have an accountant. So, forming that bond, and that broker becoming that important link between accountant, borrower and broker is another sinew that we can really help them with. Helping them to diversify by creating deeper and more meaningful referral relationships.”

Wilcox agreed about the value of accountants to a broker’s business.

“I’ve been a broker 12 months, but I was in business banking for six years. All my business previously came from brokers, and they all had accountants. So going out as a broker, I’ll speak to accountants, and they would say, ‘I already have a broker and they’re residential’.

So, Wilcox pivoted by offering commercial

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looks directly on to the web or Google, they’re just going to get a result that’s optimised by the funder to service them, where that may not be the right result.”

That business would then say they found it hard to access capital, Poolman said.

“The opportunity as the broker is to present whether it’s equipment, finance, data finance, unsecured finance, property secured, whatever the right product is for them … I don’t think it’s as hard to access capital as what some people say, if the broker is able to provide them with the right product.”

Bannister said there was more inclusive approach from lenders now. “It’s the breadth and depth of lenders and their solutions I think makes a difference.

“If I go back five or six years ago, it was a pretty steep barrier to entry for a lot of brokers to get into commercial; you had to arrange all of your individual accreditations first. But through the innovation of lenders and their products and the removal of lots of those barriers and just the general acceptance that we’re willing to help and support

brokers who want to have a go, I think has enabled more and more to get involved.”

Sampson said 70% of home loans were handled by mortgage brokers, but the percentage of commercial loans that brokers dealt with was quite low.

“There’s a yawning gap there – a lot of that 70% are going to be small business people.

I think it’s a matter of time before those customers that naturally would go to a broker for a home loan should be naturally going to a broker for a commercial loan. The only thing that would stop that is probably that the broker is not offering that.”

Frost sees a huge opportunity in this space. “We’re reaching those customers through our brokers, and we expect more small businesses will be reaching out to brokers to learn how to access finance in the future,” she said. “This is aligned to what we’ve seen in the home lending space, where the majority of home loans are handled by brokers.

“We ensure a smooth loan process for brokers and clients through our specialised business development managers, who have deep industry expertise and are passionate about educating brokers so they can best serve their customers.”

Withers said Pepper Money knows that all businesses are unique, and so are their lending needs. “That’s why we’ve got a range of prime and near prime commercial property loans, including full-doc and alt-doc options for customers who need commercial lending solutions up to $3m in loan size.”

He said the advantages of Pepper Money’s commercial loans included the ability to deliver a fast commitment and provide confidence in lodging a deal.

“We deliver fast assessment that provides a broker direct-to-credit engagement and a fast time to cash where we are able to provide a seamless settlement,” Withers said. “But the biggest thing is allowing the brokers to talk directly to our credit managers, which is really important to ensure the broker is able to tell that customer’s story directly to the credit manager if there are any questions. We stand by the broker every step of the way.”

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Winners and Excellence Awardees will be honoured at the live event, which will be the perfect opportunity for key members of the mortgage industry to celebrate their stellar work as they reflect on a remarkable year.

Be sure to reserve a table and join us, as this will be an unmissable evening bringing together everyone in the industry from across the country to celebrate, connect and raise a glass to their outstanding achievements. Popular TV presenter Ed Kavalee will be the MC, and attendees can dance the night away to party band Furnace and The Fundmentals. Visit www.australianmortgageawards.com.au or contact awards@keymedia.com.au for table reservations or sponsorship opportunities.

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RELATIONSHIPS

Why friendships are important at work Organisations often talk about culture but rarely consider the role friendships play in creating a healthy, dynamic and productive work environment, says Michelle Gibbings

SOME LEADERS believe that if a work environment is too collegiate, people will stop challenging each other, and ideas won’t be debated. However, combative environments in which a dominant person subjugates the opinions of others and is unfriendly and highly politicised can be destructive. The damage to employees’ mental health and wellbeing from working in such an environment is well known.

Workplaces are complex environments, bringing together a melting pot of people with varying ideas, assumptions, experiences, expectations and ambitions. It’s about finding the balance between too much friendship and not enough collegiality.

If you want an engaged and productive workplace in which employees constructively challenge and go beyond the norm, consider how you nurture and encourage healthy friendships.

Fostering collaboration Our brain quickly assesses whether it sees someone as a ‘friend’ or ‘foe’. It sizes someone up and judges whether a person is ‘in my tribe’ or ‘outside my tribe’.

The brain then processes the information we receive from that person according to

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which category we’ve put them in. What this means in practice is that if two people are saying the same thing to us, and one person is considered a ‘foe’ and the other person a ‘friend’, we will interpret what

who have best friends at work are seven times more likely to be engaged in their jobs.

Additionally, if they have at least three vital friends at work, they are 96% more likely to be satisfied with their lives.

Our brain quickly assesses whether it sees someone as a ‘friend’ or ‘foe’. It sizes someone up and judges whether a person is ‘in my tribe’ or ‘outside my tribe’ they are saying differently. It’s like giving someone the benefit of the doubt. We will do that for a friend, but not for a foe.

If you see other people as ‘foes’ in the workplace, you are more likely to misinterpret their intent, which leads to distrust, disagreement, and unproductive competitive behaviour. None of which help to build a collaborative and productive workplace.

Building engagement In his book Vital Friends: The People You Can’t Afford to Live Without, Tom Rath outlines research which shows that employees

Inspiring happiness Having a solid network is vital to career success, but it’s meaningless if the relationships in that network aren’t genuine. It’s easy to spot the person who can network, network, network, yet the relationship is superficial and highly transactional. A relationship that focuses purely on what you can get from it fuels disconnection.

Connection is at the root of all human existence. Having someone you can share experiences with, bounce ideas off and talk through problems with is good for the soul.

When you work with people you like, the

Having a solid network is vital to career success, but it’s meaningless if the relationships in that network aren’t genuine work is more enjoyable, and you are likely to find yourself more connected. When you feel more connected at work, you’ll feel happier.

Of course, being happier sparks a whole range of additional benefits.

Accelerating progress Good friends don’t just agree with you.

They challenge and inspire you to greater heights. They help you see things from different perspectives and explore new

ideas. It’s much easier to take input and feedback from a friend who you trust.

Similarly, having an affiliative and collaborative environment makes it easier for ideas to be debated, agreed on and progressed.

Research demonstrates that cooperating with others activates the same reward circuitry in your brain as when you eat chocolate. So cooperating makes you feel good too.

If you want to develop an influential and effective team, consider the role that friendship can play in helping to create the culture you need to excel.

As you do this, remember the words of relationship expert Dale Carnegie: “You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.”

Michelle Gibbings is a workplace expert and the award-winning author of three books. Her latest book is Bad Boss: What to Do if You Work for One, Manage One or Are One. For more information, visit www.michellegibbings.com.

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FEATURES

WORK-LIFE BALANCE

Set clear boundaries to prevent burnout The coronavirus pandemic means that people working from home are clocking up longer hours than ever, but everyone should be working smarter instead of harder, says Rebecca Houghton

ARE YOU struggling to set boundaries?

Are you saying yes to things you should say no to? Putting in long hours not ‘just this once’ but all the time? Feeling that people take you for granted or even take advantage?

Then there’s a chance that you’re not setting boundaries – and as a result you could be heading for burnout.

Why do we do it? Most of us have been trained since childhood to be people pleasers.

If you’ve ever said yes, knowing you should have said no, or made up an excuse instead of saying no, then the chances are that you’re pleasing people and struggling to set boundaries of your own.

But saying yes feels good, doesn’t it?

Saying yes is a habit that makes you feel needed, valuable and useful. You want people to like you. You want to be part of the gang.

And saying no feels bad; it makes you feel guilty, worried about upsetting people, or fearful of damaging your reputation or even losing your job. This relationship we have with saying yes or no is a programming issue that is now hurting us more than it’s helping us. And why now?

You are already working a lot more hours than before COVID-19. ADP Research last year showed that employees working from home were putting in an entire day per week

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more work. And now we are being asked to come back into the office, so we are adding a commute on top of that.

If you haven’t had a real conversation about resetting expectations, then you will be trying to cram six days’ productivity into only four days’ worth of available working hours. No wonder you’re feeling burned out. According to Asana, almost four in five Australians are burned out, and we rank among the most burned-out people in the world. So, what can we practically do about it?

First off, articulate your boundaries. This is a step that most people forget to do, and if you don’t have your boundaries clearly articulated, you have no hope of holding to them. In the coaching I do with middle managers (or ‘B-suite’ leaders, the most burned-out cohort in the world), we talk about a clear red line.

This is the point past which you do not go without clear repercussions. If you don’t have this clearly articulated yet, then you have no chance of anyone respecting your boundaries.

so we feel obliged to work harder and harder instead of smarter and smarter. This means we feel that we should be able to keep doing more and more and more – as if we are an infinite resource. But we are not.

We must get out of our own way when it comes to work boundaries. Get over the fear of saying I can’t (or won’t) do it all. Get over the shame of not having an infinite capacity

build your confidence to say no if work requests conflict with them.

3 Control your diary before it controls you.

Expect a meeting agenda, or challenge your need to attend. If they can’t articulate the meeting agenda and why you are required, it’s likely to be a waste of your time.

4 Qualify before you commit. Find out what

ADP Research last year showed that employees working from home were putting in an entire day per week more work

you’re saying yes to before you say it, by simply asking when and why. ‘When do you want it?’ will mean that you can schedule it appropriately rather than assume you need to work all weekend on it.

5 Learn to say yes in the right way. This

This means being clear on what really matters to you. If you simply say you’ll only work a 50-hour week, you won’t stick to it, as there will always be a good reason to step over that line. But if you say you’ll never compromise on your morning meditation or you say that you will always spend every second Friday with your grandad, then you’re more likely to say no when work requests come up. It’s easier to respect our own boundaries when they are specific and meaningful. Once you’ve set your work-life boundaries, then it’s time to set some in-work boundaries too.

We have a cult of overwork in many countries. ‘Busy’ is wrongly equated with ‘valuable’,

for work (even Superman has his limits).

Stop fearing that we will lose respect or even status if we don’t say yes.

Here are five ways to establish and keep your boundaries intact at work:

means ‘yes, I can show you how to do it’ (instead of doing it for you), or ‘yes, if I can stop something else’ (instead of adding it on top), or ‘yes, I can do it on Thursday’ (instead of Sunday).

1 Boundaries build respect. If you don’t

With these simple techniques, you can set boundaries that both prevent burnout and build respect.

respect your own boundaries, no one else will. They will always take you for granted, and they will always want more.

2 Without your own priorities you’re at the

mercy of everyone else’s. A lack of priorities makes us feel we have no way to push back.

Set your priorities with your leader and

Rebecca Houghton, author of Impact: 10 Ways to Level up your Leadership, is a leadership and talent expert and founder of BoldHR. She builds B-Suite leaders with C-Suite impact by working at an organisational, team and individual level.

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FEATURES

BUSINESS LEADERSHIP

The value of empathy in leadership The most effective leaders are those who understand the emotions that motivate their staff and help them thrive, says Tracey Ezard

LEADERSHIP HAS long been a dynamic dance, balancing attaining results with managing and leading people.

In the current era, agility and adaptability have become key skills that allow individuals, teams and organisations to thrive. The ability of teams to move within the grey and evolve to new ways of working and collaborating requires their leaders to have a new level of skills to create a culture in which that is possible.

Historically, leadership has focused on developing cognitive, logic-driven, strategic thinking that can ‘steer the ship’ away from the rocks and into clear waters. Many have discovered along the way that without understanding what the crew need in order to pull together on the oars, and what motivates them, the rocks appear swiftly and too late for evasive action.

Thriving or surviving?

A 2022 Gallup survey of the global workforce found that 60% of people are emotionally detached from their workplace, with 19%

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being downright miserable. With our personal and professional lives copping a real shake-up over the past two years, the teams who have weathered the storm the best have been those whose members show deep support and understanding of each other. Gallup also found that engaged teams create a 23% higher profit than miserable teams.

I’ve worked with some of those miserable teams. Most of them feel unseen, unsafe and

We perform better in an environment in which we are supported to be our best and feel valued as a human being, not just a role undervalued. They are in survival mode.

The conversations between leadership and those on the ground are transactional, reflecting a ‘tell’ culture (I’ll tell you what to do, and you do it). No rich debate is held; there’s simply fearful compliance. Leaders do not lead; they merely send out instruc-

tions and expect obedience. Mistakes are swept under the carpet for fear of losing jobs, and no one is prepared to signal when things might be going awry.

Fortunately, I’ve also seen the impact that empathy shown by leaders has on the results of teams and relationships within them. We

intelligence that matters. Indeed, intellect cannot work at its best without emotional intelligence,” Goelman says.

Empathy holds a space for people to ‘be’ and for us to connect to their emotions.

Empathy says, ‘I see you, and I value you’ – whether we agree or not. Empathy says, ‘I seek to understand what is happening for you and how I can support you to be the best you can be.’

The key for leaders? Get curious about your people. Ask questions to understand more about what makes them tick. What is

Empathy holds a space for people to ‘be’ and for us to connect to their emotions. Empathy says, ‘I see you, and I value you’

perform better in an environment in which we are supported to be our best and feel valued as a human being, not just as a role.

What we feel impacts on how well we think.

Research continues to open our eyes to the impact that a sense of belonging, psychological safety and trust has on our cognitive functioning and outcomes. Show me an empathetic leader who can offer a safe space for their team to share their feelings and concerns about any work initiative, and I’ll show you a team that is honest and open enough to work proactively on what’s working and what is not. This team creates a learning

culture in which it is safe to share where they need support and robust enough to allow discussion of the more challenging issues.

The key Empathy is a key skill of those with emotional intelligence. It is the ability to understand the emotions that motivate and sustain people to thrive. Daniel Goleman, whose extensive research into emotional intelligence redefined what we see as important in leadership today, sees both thinking and feeling skills as critical. “How we do in life is determined by both – it is not just IQ but emotional

important to them? How do they see the state of play in your organisation? Where do they think the way you all work could be improved?

What are their strengths, their challenges?

What do they need to thrive and excel?

Let’s listen deeply to their perspectives with a desire to understand, showing humility and grace in response to their feedback, and acknowledging their courage in speaking up. Then there is no limit to what we can achieve together.

Tracey Ezard is a keynote speaker, author, and leadership and team educator. Her leadership framework and book Ferocious Warmth help leaders find the balance between the head and the heart, results and relationships, strategy and culture.

Find out more at www.traceyezard.com.

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PEOPLE

BROKERAGE INSIGHT

Empowering women for career success From humble beginnings 20 years ago, Suzanne O’Connor and Melita Beilicz have built up their highly successful all-female brokerage to support and encourage women in the mortgage finance industry CANBERRA-BASED brokerage Dominion Finance has just celebrated 20 years in business, and director Suzanne O’Connor knows it’s come a long way and much has changed in that time.

Prior to launching the brokerage in 2002 with co-founder Melita Beilicz, O’Connor

different aggregators, with three of the changes out of our control, all with different customer relationship CRMs and databases, which always causes a lot of upheaval to our business.”

O’Connor says loyalty is really important to business success.

“I have many clients that have come back

“Our goal is to take capable young women from loans process officers to highly successful brokers” Suzanne O’Connor, Dominion Finance spent 10 years working at NAB, where she started out in 1987.

“It’s here where I first met Melita,” she says. “Melita left NAB and went on to St. George and then joined Bendigo Bank, where I joined her a short time later.

“It didn’t take long before we realised we could offer the customer a superior service offering, and from our dining room tables Dominion Finance was born.”

When O’Connor first began working as a broker 20 years ago, she says it was very different to how it is today.

“Brokers were only writing less than 20% of loans, and there was not a lot of regulation.

Over the years the industry has changed so much, and along with that we’ve had five

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to me numerous times for loans, along with their families and friends.

“Our current staff have been with us for many years, as our goal is to take capable young women from loans process officers to highly successful brokers. I care a great deal about the positive impact I can have by helping both clients and staff achieve their goals.”

Dominion Finance specialises in residential home loans and investment loans and is committed to providing excellent service. It also handles a small amount of commercial lending.

The brokerage has a wide range of clients, and while many are public servants due to its Canberra location, its customers also include tradies and small business clients.

“I have found over the years I will do a loan for someone in a particular industry, for example paramedics, and they will tell their colleagues about me, and then I’ll be doing loans for many Canberra paramedics,” O’Connor says.

“By offering excellent service, I have found that my clients will tell their family, friends and colleagues, and this produces a lot of new enquiries each day.”

One of the defining features of Dominion Finance, which helps it stand out from other broker businesses, is that all its staff are women.

“When Melita and I started in 2002 we would go to PD days and functions, and we

DOMINION FINANCE AT A GLANCE Owners: Suzanne O’Connor and Melita Beilicz Location: Forrest, ACT Year founded: 2002 Services offered: Residential, investment and commercial lending Number of employees: 6 mortgage brokers and 3 support staff

The Dominion Finance team (from left): Amber Redmayne, mortgage broker; Molly McDonald Crowley, mortgage broker; Suzanne O’Connor, director and mortgage broker; Melita Beilicz, director and mortgage broker; Leonie Walz, mortgage broker; and Alicia Wilkinson, mortgage broker. Support staff (not pictured) are Jamie Evans, Lauren Viney and Eskie Gavel

“This is an industry with very flexible hours and without a predetermined salary level, so women can thrive throughout all stages of their lives” Suzanne O’Connor, Dominion Finance would be the only women in the room,” says O’Connor.

The pair made a conscious decision to help change this. O’Connor says they knew from their own experience “that this is a great industry for women with young children as you can be flexible with your working hours”.

“We would often do our appointments at night to work around the family timetable,” she says.

“We also look to mentor, nurture and support women in our industry in any way we can. This is an industry with very flexible hours and without a predetermined salary level, so women can thrive throughout all stages of their lives.”

So, how does Dominion Finance inspire women to join the male-dominated world of mortgage broking?

“We work on the philosophy that ‘you can’t be what you can’t see’, so hopefully if young women see this team of females in finance they will consider this industry as a femalefriendly industry,” O’Connor says. “Over the years, Melita and I have really seen this change, and it’s fantastic.”

Dominion Finance has experienced tremendous growth in the last 12 months.

“We’ve written our highest loan amounts in our history. With the boom in house prices and people’s fear of missing out, we’ve seen an increase across the board from new home

buyers, investors, refinancing for better deals, and people buying holiday houses as they could not travel overseas.”

O’Connor says she really enjoys seeing clients purchase their new homes.

“I also try to make them feel relaxed and comfortable to ask any questions they have and feel they have a trusted adviser who is always available.

“It’s especially satisfying working with young first home buyers and setting them off on their life wealth journey; or assisting generations of the one family who all know me as ‘their broker’ who they can completely trust.”

As for the future, O’Connor says the next 12 months are going to be challenging, with rising interest rates and inflation.

“We have many of our clients coming off fixed rate loans that we will have to work with to achieve a great deal for their next home loan.

“Personally, I’m looking forward to a holiday,” she says. “It’s been such an intense past two years – a break would be wonderful.”

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PEOPLE

OTHER LIFE ll- ti m e w it h W hi le tra in in g fuSt eva n ov ic wa s th e NR L , B en ortg a g e introd u ce d to ma iri M a cL eod b ro ki n g by M h F in a n ce of A st ut e A b ility 22 G ro u p in ea rly 20

TELL US ABOUT YOUR OTHER LIFE Email antony.field@keymedia.com

BROKER KICKING PLENTY OF GOALS Broker Ben Stevanovic is helping homebuyers’ dreams come true, while following his own dream of playing rugby league professionally AS AN Astute Ability Finance Group mortgage broker, Ben Stevanovic specialises in helping his clients fulfil their property ownership dreams.

But before he brought his A game to the broking arena in early 2022, he was working towards his rugby league dreams.

Stevanovic’s passion for the sport was inspired by his father, who played first grade for Western Suburbs. After starting out in the game himself, playing halfback as a Balmain junior, Stevanovic progressed through the Balmain teams and was signed by Wests Tigers at age 15.

He later represented NSW Combined Catholic Colleges at the U15s and 18s national carnivals.

From 2018 to 2021, Stevanovic played Jersey Flegg before being granted an NRL Train and Trial contract that allowed him to train with the full-time Tigers squad. In 2022, he started the season playing for Western Suburbs Magpies (Wests Tigers Reserve Grade) before making an in-season switch to Blacktown Workers Sea Eagles (Manly Reserve Grade). His goal? To make his NRL debut in front of his family.

2015

Ben Stevanovic appointed captain of NSWCCC Rugby League

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2017

Chosen as an Australian touch football representative

2021

Named leading point scorer in Jersey Flegg competition

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