New Zealand Mortgage Awards 2022 Commemorative Guide by Key Media

COMMEMORATIVE GUIDE EVENT PARTNER

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Helping Kiwis find a flexible home loan

Your customers don’t all fit the same mould, so why should their home loan? We help Kiwi borrowers at all ends of the credit curve.

www.bluestone.net.nz

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A WORD FROM OUR EVENT PARTNER On behalf of BLUESTONE, I am extremely proud to once again be the official event partner for the 2022 New Zealand Mortgage Awards. Recognising and celebrating outstanding achievement in our industry is always important, but perhaps even more so in the current climate. This past year the mortgage industry continued to be challenged by the ongoing pandemic, the introduction of licensing for mortgage advisers and the pending changes to the CCCFA. All of which have impacted our businesses in different ways. Notwithstanding these changes and challenges, the strength of the mortgage adviser proposition has been at the forefront of the industry and continues to lead the way. At Bluestone, we are committed more than ever to delivering an exceptional experience to both advisers and customers and will continue to push the boundaries. To all the winners and nominated individuals and businesses, I congratulate you for this well-earned recognition and thank you for your contribution to our industry.

Peter Wood Managing Director, Bluestone New Zealand

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BLUESTONE is a fast-growing lender specialising in residential home loans with over 21 years’ experience across New Zealand and Australia. Bluestone’s goal is to create a sustainable alternative lending sector to help Kiwi borrowers at all ends of the credit curve. To date, we have helped over 13,000 Kiwis achieve their financial goals through property ownership.

Contact details: W: www.bluestone.net.nz E: sales.support@bluestone.net.nz P: 0800 668 333

TABLE OF CONTENTS Independent Mortgage Adviser of the Year

Regional Mortgage Adviser of the Year

Young Gun of the Year

Best Customer Service from an Individual Office

Best Non-Bank BDM

Mortgage Brokerage of the Year (1 – 10 Staff)

Mortgage Brokerage of the Year (11+ Staff)

Regional Mortgage Brokerage of the Year

New Mortgage Brokerage of the Year

NZ Non-Bank of the Year

CELEBRATING EXCELLENCE IN THE NEW ZEALAND’S HOME LOAN SECTOR Despite a tough year for the economy, the New Zealand mortgage finance industry has thrived. We celebrate the nation’s best advisers, lenders, business development managers and brokerages.

THE SECRET is out – the New Zealand Mortgage Awards is the pre-eminent celebration of the nation’s best performing individuals and companies in the mortgage finance industry. After a successful inaugural awards in 2021, recognition of the event is growing and the 2022 awards attracted a greater number of mortgage professionals keen to gain national recognition for their efforts in what has been another tough year for the country. Judges carefully sifted through hundreds of entries from brokerages, lenders, business development managers and mortgage advisers to decide the excellence awardees and winners in 10 categories. The expert panel of 14 judges included prominent and well-respected industry leaders from organisations such as Resimac, Prospa, New Zealand Home Loans, Financial Advice New Zealand, SHARE, Midlands Mortgage Trust, The Fundmaster, Norfolk Mortgage Trust, Astute Financial Management, Tony Mounce

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Mortgages & Insurance, Twine Financial Advisers, Vega Lend and The Mortgage Girls.

Why advisers need recognition Mortgage advisers are only responsible for about 40% of residential loans written in New Zealand compared to their Australian broker counterparts which enjoy an almost 67% market share. It’s important to recognise highly skilled Kiwi advisers who can help clients navigate a complex and diverse home loan market and find them options that best suit their financial circumstances. Honouring the best in the industry through the New Zealand Mortgage Awards can help instill further consumer confidence in the value of the sector. New Zealand’s economy has suffered due to COVID lockdowns but brokerages, lenders and BDMs have risen to the challenge and reached out to help their clients get through hard times.

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METHODOLOGY NOMINATIONS Nominations were open via online portal. The awards were free to enter. To be in the running for the New Zealand Mortgage Awards, individuals and companies could nominate themselves or their peers in unlimited categories. All submissions focused on the achievements of the nominees over the past 12 months.

RESEARCH The Mortgage Awards team conducted thorough research to verify all submissions and nominations.

JUDGING

Honouring the best in the industry Bluestone, the main sponsor of the New Zealand Mortgage Awards 2022, understands the importance of celebrating mortgage finance individuals and firms that are at the top of their game. “Our focus is to support advisers through education and training and recognise excellence to help build the reputation and professionalism of the industry,” said Bluestone APAC managing director strategic partnerships Peter Wood. “This allows us to showcase our industry and the people who help everyday Kiwis achieve their financial goals.” Wood said with major changes in the industry including licensing and changes to CCCFA it was important that all lenders and industry bodies support events such as the New Zealand Mortgage Awards to “ensure we have a robust sustainable industry moving forward”. “The awards bring those in the industry together and shine a light on top performers. The award winners share their success stories with the industry and are ultimately sharing their invaluable knowledge.”

NZ Adviser appointed an independent panel of judges comprised of mortgage and finance leaders from around New Zealand to review the submissions and allocate each nominee with a confidential and impartial score.

WINNER The winners were announced on NZ Adviser’s website on the 17th of February, 2022.

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Sue Griffiths, head of sales at Bluestone NZ, said the last few years had been difficult for everyone but Bluestone was proud of how it dealt with changing circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic. “The safety of our staff and their families is paramount and this called for flexibility in terms of our working environments, with a large majority of our teams still working from home,” said Griffiths. “Although social interactions have been limited, we have found other ways to connect as a team. We have provided our teams with ‘isolation packs’ supporting Eat My Lunch and boosted morale through gifts of thanks.” Griffiths said Bluestone’s biggest struggle, like most businesses, had been resourcing, adding pressure in a high-volume market. “The industry saw the complete opposite of what many economists predicted, so we have seen significant growth in our business. While we are seeing communities change as the pandemic subsides we have a range of other factors now impacting our business.” Changing market conditions such as CCCFA, multiple interest rate increases, rising inflation, predictions of a property market correction and an uncertain geopolitical landscape would make navigating the next 12 months more complex. Griffiths said Bluestone NZ’s sales team had doubled over the past 12 months, meaning BDMs could now focus on smaller port-

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“As we enter into a more complex credit environment we will continue to use every means available to us to continue to educate and help advisers capitalise on opportunities” Sue Griffiths

Head of Sales, Bluestone NZ

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folios, providing a specialised and personal service to advisers. “As we enter into a more complex credit environment we will continue to use every means available to us to continue to educate and help advisers capitalise on opportunities. “We run monthly Zoom sessions to update advisers on our current products and policies and now have Cameron Bagrie on board as our Bluestone consultant economist to provide bespoke quarterly market insights for our network,” Griffiths said. Looking ahead, Wood said Bluestone was working on exciting new developments across a broad range of areas including system developments for both advisers and borrowers, together with ongoing product development. “It’s great to see the pandemic has brought us new talent — seeing people from different backgrounds and diversity enter the industry has been great,” he said. “These people will also help us ensure we capture a new generation of borrowers and bring fresh ideas on how to embrace more technology into our industry — like online loan submissions for a start.”

Winner’s perspective Satyan Mehra is the director and chief advisor of Auckland brokerage iConsult. He is celebrating after winning Mortgage Brokerage of the Year (1 to 10 Staff ), Independent Mortgage Adviser of the Year and Best Customer Service from an Individual Office for the second year running. “I am both proud of myself and iConsult for taking a number of wins this year, and we have had similar wins in previous year awards,” Mehra said. “Firstly, these awards give us the recognition for all the work we put in to get the desired outcome for our clients. It’s a massive morale boost for everyone at iConsult. This recognition also helps our prospective clients in their decision making process when choosing us.” Mehra said he had always felt there was a massive gap in the industry. “The onus is on us as advisers to raise the bar, strive to do better, promote healthy competition between peers — all of it essentially meaning our clients would win.” At iConsult communication was very important so clients were kept fully informed. Mehra said the brokerage also offered out of the box solutions and worked with other advisers such as accountants and lawyers. “Most importantly, we might not have a “yes” for every time clients ask for funding — and that’s when it’s important to educate clients on why there is a no, and what can they do differently to have a different outcome next time.” Mehra said COVID has changed the way the world worked and iConsult had struggled at first. “We operated a very much in-person meetings model where our clients would come and see us,” he said. “I can confidently say,

prior to COVID well over 95% of applications were done in person at our offices.” But Mehra had learnt very early on in his career that change was the only constant, and it was during the first lockdown that he decided the brokerage needed to change. “While we continue to have a physical office, we are all now equipped to be working anywhere from the world. We have virtual phones, latest hardware (laptops), online appointment booking systems etc.” Attaining clients through networking in person had to be done differently. “So that next thing was our digital presence and digital brand building. I’ve invested significantly into doing these things for iConsult and it’s paying off. “We are now working on building a strong social media presence, online educational webinars etc and trying to use different channels available to be able to reach our targeted audience and be able to bring in more clients.” Key Media and NZ Adviser are honoured to present the 2022 New Zealand Mortgage Awards highlighting the best in class in this industry. Congratulations to all the nominees and winners — you are an inspiration to the mortgage profession. To find out more about the achievements of this year’s finalists and winners, read on.

“The onus is on us as advisers to raise the bar, strive to do better, promote healthy competition between peers — all of it essentially meaning our clients would win” Satyan Mehra

Director and Chief Adviser, iConsult

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INDEPENDENT MORTGAGE ADVISER OF THE YEAR

REGIONAL MORTGAGE ADVISER OF THE YEAR

This award recognises the best mortgage adviser in an independent business. This award acknowledges the Advisor’s outstanding performance with work. The judgment for the winner was based on loan volumes, year over year growth, lead generation, client retention, quality of submissions, conversion rates and overall customer service.

This award recognises the best mortgage adviser based in and deriving the majority of their income from a regional area (outside of major capital cities). This award recognises the best mortgage adviser in an independent business. The judgment for the winner was based on loan volumes, year over year growth, lead generation, client retention, quality of submissions, conversion rates and overall customer service.

WINNER

WINNERS

SATYAN MEHRA iConsult

ALASTAIR WATSON Loan Market

SCOTT JACKSON Mike Pero Mortgages – Nelson & Tasman

Contact details W: www.mikepero.co.nz/scott-jackson E: scott@mikepero.co.nz P: 0275 702 709

EXCELLENCE AWARDEES Cameron Marcroft Loan Market

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Kaushal Patel Onelife Financial Services Kewan Vaidhya Aprilis Mortgages Prateek Malhotra Everest Financial Services T/A Loan and Insurance Market

EXCELLENCE AWARDEES Brent Jaslarz NZ Financial Services Group

Malcolm Shepherd Quantum Financial Advisers

Jen Taylor Taylored Mortgages

FEATURED AWARDEE Prateek Malhotra Everest Financial Services T/A Loan and Insurance Market

Malcolm Shepherd Quantum Financial Advisers

Contact details

W: everesthomeloans.co.nz E: prateek.malhotra@loanmarket.co.nz P: 09 392 4119

W: quantum.kiwi E: info@quantum.kiwi P: 0800 111 196

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THE SELECT AWARD FOR YOUNG GUN OF THE YEAR This award recognises the best adviser aged 35 or under (as of 1 July 2021) who has less than two years of experience. This award acknowledges outstanding performance and was judged by the following categories: loan volumes, year over year growth, lead generation, client retention, quality of submissions, conversion rates and overall customer service.

WINNER

AWARD SPONSOR

SELECT was launched in June 2019

JEN TAYLOR Taylored Mortgages

EXCELLENCE AWARDEE Cowan Henderson NZHL

as a white label product as part of an exclusive five-year partnership between New Zealand Financial Services Group (NZFSG)/Loan Market and non-bank lender Bluestone. The Select home loan range was created to deliver solutions to a wider range of borrowers with products spanning prime, near prime and specialist. We provide solutions for a wide range of customer needs and circumstances. With no credit scoring and a holistic approach to loan assessment, we are able to find the right home loan for more borrowers by assessing each situation on its individual merits. For more information, visit www.selecthome.co.nz

“To be recognised as the Young Gun of the Year for 2022 absolutley blew my mind. Out of all the new advisers in NZ we made it. Our little team in Mighty Manawatu doing big things. I am a firm believer in having the right support team and I can honestly say I have the best! A huge thank you to everyone that put their faith in me, I really appreciate it.” Jen Taylor

Director and Mortgage Adviser

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THE SELECT AWARD FOR BEST CUSTOMER SERVICE FROM AN INDIVIDUAL OFFICE Customer service is an incredibly important measure of any brokerage operation’s long-term sustainability and success. This award recognises the brokerage office or branch that has displayed excellence over the past 12 months in maintaining consistent and sustainable customer service standards. The judgment for the winner was based on product knowledge, product offering, client retention, customer service proposition and the business’ value proposition and strategy around stakeholder engagement

WINNER

iCONSULT EXCELLENCE AWARDEES Platinum Mortgages New Zealand The Mortgage Girls

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AWARD SPONSOR

SELECT was launched in June 2019 as a white label product as part of an exclusive five-year partnership between New Zealand Financial Services Group (NZFSG)/Loan Market and non-bank lender Bluestone. The Select home loan range was created to deliver solutions to a wider range of borrowers with products spanning prime, near prime and specialist. We provide solutions for a wide range of customer needs and circumstances. With no credit scoring and a holistic approach to loan assessment, we are able to find the right home loan for more borrowers by assessing each situation on its individual merits. For more information, visit www.selecthome.co.nz

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BEST NON-BANK BDM

MORTGAGE BROKERAGE OF THE YEAR (1 – 10 STAFF)

BDMs are an essential ingredient in the lender/adviser relationship. This award recognises the best non-major bank BDM. The judgment for the winner was based on accessibility and communication, a demonstrated understanding of their advisers’ businesses, the nominee’s product knowledge and the value BDM adds to the brand they represent as well as the adviser channel.

This award recognises the best brokerage operation with 1-10 staff (or full-time equivalents). The number of staff includes all loan writers and support staff across all company offices/branches. The judgment for the winner was based on the overall business perspective such as loan volume, year over year growth, lead generation, client retention, quality of submissions, conversion rates, customer service proposition, strategy around stakeholder engagement and adviser training and development.

WINNER

ASHLENE PRASAD

iCONSULT

Resimac

Contact details W: www.resimac.co.nz E: ashlene.prasad@resimac.co.nz P: 021 440 091

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EXCELLENCE AWARDEES Kaushal Pate (Onelife Financial Services) Loan Market Central Prosperity Finance The Mortgage Girls Twine Financial Advisers

EXCELLENCE AWARDEES

FEATURED AWARDEE

Adam Fasi, Prospa Jonathan Singh, First Mortgage Trust Luke Roberts, Bluestone Mortgages Maree Maxwell, Bluestone Mortgages Mark Nolan, Avanti Finance

Contact details W: www.themortgagegirls.co.nz E: info@themortgagegirls.co.nz P: 0800 864 864

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MORTGAGE BROKERAGE OF THE YEAR (11+ STAFF)

REGIONAL MORTGAGE BROKERAGE OF THE YEAR

NEW MORTGAGE BROKERAGE OF THE YEAR

This award recognises the best brokerage operation based in a regional area (outside of major capital cities). The judgment for the winner was based on the overall business perspective such as loan volume, year over year growth, lead generation, client retention, quality of submissions, conversion rates, customer service proposition, strategy around stakeholder engagement and adviser training and development.

This award recognises the best brokerage office or branch that has been in operation for less than two years. The judgment for the winner was based on the overall business perspective such as loan volume, year over year growth, lead generation, client retention, quality of submissions, conversion rates, customer service proposition, strategy around stakeholder engagement and adviser training and development.

WINNER

TAYLORED MORTGAGES Contact details W: www.tayloredmortgages.co.nz E: jen@tayloredmortgages.co.nz P: 0274356760

NEST HOME LOANS

QUANTUM FINANCIAL ADVISERS

EXCELLENCE AWARDEES

Fundmaster

Loan Market Mount Maunganui

Mortgage Express NZ

Mike Pero Mortgages Wanaka

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EXCELLENCE AWARDEE

Contact details

FEATURED AWARDEE

W: www.platinummortgages.co.nz E: info@platinummortgages.co.nz P: 0800 LENDING (0800 536 346)

Contact details W: www.mikepero.co.nz/ team-wanaka-queenstown E: james.kingscote@mikepero.co.nz P: 027 464 5941

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NZ NON-BANK OF THE YEAR

This award recognises the best non-bank lender in the mortgage industry based on performance over the past 12 months. The judgment for the winner was based on business achievements, year over year growth, service innovations, overall support of and contribution to the third-party distribution channel and lastly, demonstration of positive impact on the wider community.

WINNER

AVANTI FINANCE Contact details W: www.avantifinance.co.nz E: customer.services@avantifinance.co.nz P: 0800 808 003

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EXCELLENCE AWARDEES First Mortgage Trust

Prospa NZ

Pepper Money

Resimac

FEATURED AWARDEES

Contact details

W: www.peppermoney.co.nz E: msargeant@peppermoney.co.nz P: 0800 945 658

W: www.resimac.co.nz E: luke.jackson@resimac.co.nz P: 0800 38 48 58

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2022 JUDGING PANEL Thank you to our esteemed judges for lending their time and expertise to help recognise and celebrate excellence in the mortgage and finance profession.

EUGENE BARTSAIKIN

JULIUS CAPILITAN

Managing Director Twine Financial Advisers

Lending Member Advisory Committee/ Managing Director Financial Advice New Zealand/Century21Financial

ADRIENNE CHURCH

TONY DENCH

General Manager NZ Prospa

CEO SHARE

DEV DHINGRA

ANTON DOUGLAS

Founder/CEO/Principle Adviser The Fundmaster

CEO Midlands Mortgage Trust

GLENYS HOLDEN

LUKE JACKSON

Chief Executive Officer Norfolk Mortgage Trust

NZ Head Resimac

SARAH JOHNSTON

TONY MOUNCE

CEO Astute Financial Management

Director Tony Mounce Mortgages & Insurance

ELYCE PETERS

KATRINA SHANKS

Director and Mobile Mortgage Adviser The Mortgage Girls

CEO Financial Advice New Zealand

TAHEI SIMPSON

AARON SKILTON

Mortgage Adviser Vega Lend

CEO New Zealand Home Loans

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A LOOK BACK: THE 2021 WINNERS AGGREGATOR OF THE YEAR

BEST AGGREGATOR BDM

NZFSG

Karina Reardon, Loan Market

BEST BANK BDM

BEST INDUSTRY SERVICE

Vicki Squires, Kiwibank

Global Financial Services

BEST NON-BANK BDM

NZ NON-BANK OF THE YEAR

Mark Beams, Bluestone Mortgages

First Mortgage Trust

BEST CUSTOMER SERVICE FROM AN INDIVIDUAL OFFICE

MORTGAGE BROKERAGE OF THE YEAR 1 – 10 STAFF

iConsult Mortgage Brokerage

MORTGAGE BROKERAGE OF THE YEAR 11+ STAFF

iConsult Mortgage Brokerage

REGIONAL MORTGAGE BROKERAGE OF THE YEAR The Mortgage Girls

Global Financial Services

INDEPENDENT MORTGAGE ADVISER OF THE YEAR Mark Pullar, Roost and Satyan Mehra, iConsult Mortgage Brokerage

REGIONAL MORTGAGE ADVISER OF THE YEAR Mark Pullar, Roost

YOUNG GUN OF THE YEAR Avneet Singh, Nest Home Loans

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