News

Broker engagement in loans guaranteed by first home buyer scheme increases

The National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation (NHFIC) has released its second annual First Home Loan Deposit Scheme (FHLDS) Trends & Insights Report.

The report found that the proportion of FHLDS guaranteed loans originating from mortgage broker channels was 56% in 2020–21, up from 48% in 2019–20.

Be October Ready

As members will be well aware, a number of key reforms affecting the mortgage broking industry are set to commence over the next week.

The reforms in relation to Reference Checking, Breach Reporting and Remediation commence on 1 October 2021. The Design and Distribution Obligations and ASIC Regulatory Guide 271: Internal Dispute Resolution (RG 271) commence on 5 October 2021.

The MFAA have released a suite of learning resources to help members to understand and comply with these reforms. These include Learning Modules on:

MFAA Industry Intelligence Service Report (IIS) for period 1 October 2020 to 31 March 2021

The Mortgage and Finance Association of Australia (MFAA) has released the latest Industry Intelligence Service Report (IIS) 12th edition providing insight into a period of uncertainty within the Australian economy.

Champions of Diversity: Emma Dupont-Brown, Mortgage Choice

Seeing small businesses thrive and being part of an industry that helps people realise their dreams of property ownership are the things that Emma Dupont-Brown, General Manager Product & Corporate Communications at Mortgage Choice, loves the most about working in the mortgage and finance industry.

Mortgage brokers achieve the highest record quarter to date despite challenges

Mortgage brokers have achieved a 47.25% year-on-year increase in the value of new settlements for the April to June 2021 quarter, according to the latest data released by research group comparator, a CoreLogic business, and commissioned by the MFAA.

The overall value of new lending facilitated by brokers in the calendar year’s second quarter reached just over $77.75 billion, representing an increase of $24.95 billion when compared to the $52.8 billion settled in the June 2020 quarter.

Prospa's Long Road - Tales of Regional Brokers: Loren Johnson, Toronto NSW Aussie Broker

When COVID-19 first hit in 2020, Loren Johnson of Aussie in Toronto NSW had just made changes to her operation, she was looking after her two young children, and was naturally anxious about what the news would mean for her business. But in that moment, like so many other brokers, Loren thought of her clients. Since then, she has been flat chat.

Prospa Groundbreakers - Steven Korner of Glass Financial Group

Steve Korner of Glass Financial Group wrote his first loan in April of 2020. Since then, he has surpassed financial goals and expectations, won an MFAA State Excellence Newcomer Award, and expanded his team to meet increasing demand. Speaking to the MFAA for this edition of Prospa’s Groundbreaker, Steve reveals how his rookie status helped him survive the trials of 2020/21 and shares his simple ‘non-strategy’ for overcoming obstacles and achieving success.

How to attract consumers to my website

The MFAA consumer website and broker search engine, Mortgage and Finance Help, receives over 1 million searches each quarter, according to Google Analytics.

Champions of Diversity: Caterina Nesci, La Trobe Financial

Caterina Nesci, La Trobe Financials’ Director of International Partnerships & ESG has never been one to follow convention.

As a daughter of Italian immigrants, she bucked the pressure from her father to marry young and start a family, to pursue her passion for building great brands, which has included stints living in London and Hong Kong and working with some of the most prestigious brands in financial services.

“It was the Italian way,” Caterina said.

Mortgage brokers achieve strong market share results for January – March 2021 quarter despite lender turnaround issues

Mortgage brokers have achieved a 27% year-on-year increase in the value of new settlements for the January – March 2021 quarter, according to the latest data released by research group comparator, a CoreLogic business, and commissioned by the MFAA.

The overall value of new lending facilitated by brokers in the calendar year’s initial quarter reached just over $62.2 billion, representing an increase of $13.2 billion when compared to the $49 billion settled in the March 2020 quarter.

Prospa's Long Road - Tales of Regional Brokers: Sharyn Gommers of Hamptons Advisory Pty Ltd

Sharyn Gommers of Hamptons Advisory Pty Ltd is one of the most optimistic brokers you will ever meet. After leaving her big bank employer of almost 30 years in 2018, Sharyn considered launching her own broker business. Now, working for herself as a broker, Sharyn feels like a kid in a candy store. Sharyn Gommers is the subject of this edition of Prospa Long Road – Tales of Regional Brokers.

Prospa's Long Road - Tales of Regional Brokers: Deb Purvis of Robinson Sewell Partners, South Australia

To an outsider, Deb Purvis sounds like she has the best job in the world. Based in the beautiful Yorke Peninsula South Australia, Deb is a commercial broker focused primarily on agriculture finance and assisting the many world class wineries that populate the state. But for Deb, it’s not what her clients can do for her, but what she can do for her clients.

Champions of Diversity: Aaron and Bernadette Christie-David, Atelier Wealth

Aaron and Bernadette Christie-David are breaking the mould when it comes to operating their family run mortgage broking business Atelier Wealth and leveraging diversity is at the heart of their success. Understanding the diversity of the strengths that they both bring to the business as well as finance broker Damien Walker, Bernadette’s brother, ensures that they each play distinctive roles aligned to their skillsets and can leverage their unique strengths to drive innovation and better customer-service outcomes for clients.

Loan approval turnarounds from the major banks penalising mortgage brokers and their customers

The mortgage broking industry has voiced concern over recent statements by the major bank CEOs that their approval times on home loans through branches were now reduced to a matter of hours, or a few days at most, whilst approvals for the mortgage broker channel ranged from “slightly longer” than the branch network to “an average of around 12 days.”

Prospa Groundbreakers - Jordan Morieson's top 5 digital strategies to enhance your business

Jordan Morieson of Inovayt Finance recently sat down with the MFAA to discuss his top 5 software tools and digital strategies for broker businesses.

3 tips on improving your digital presence as a broker Part 3

In part one of our digital marketing tips articles, we took a look at the type of content to feature In part 2 we took a look at the optimal times to feature your content. Now that you have a better understanding of this, we will move onto how to best improve your social scheduling and planning processes.

3 tips on improving your digital presence as a broker - Part 2

Many brokers come to us and say that they have no trouble setting up their social media profiles but they have difficulty in getting their content noticed by prospective leads. So how do you increase your organic reach and ensure that your content is optimised to target your intended consumer market?

3 tips on improving your digital presence as a broker - Part 1

The MFAA offers a range of resources and tools to help brokers develop their knowledge to create their social media image. One of these tools, the MFAA learning hub course ‘Social Media Fundamentals for Brokers’ offers an in depth breakdown of the different platforms, how to set up a profile and more. Interested in getting a taste of what the MFAA Social Media course has to offer? Read on below for 3 of our best tips that have helped brokers generate an effective digital presence.

MFAA Industry Intelligence Service Report (IIS) for period 1 April 2020 to 30 September 2020

The IIS Report 11th edition, which draws on data supplied by 12 of the industry’s leading aggregator brands, provides broker and industry performance and demographic data for the six-month period of 1 April 2020 to 30 September 2020.

MFAA Champions of Diversity – Kathy Cummings

Since returning to the mortgage and finance broking industry last year after a five-year hiatus, Bank of Queensland’s (BOQ) General Manager of Broker, Kathy Cummings is noticing some positive changes around diversity and inclusion.