News

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.

Mortgage brokers record highest ever December quarter market share

The mortgage broker channel has recorded its highest ever market share result for the December quarter with brokers settling 59.4 per cent of all residential home loans during October – December 2020, according to the latest data released by research group comparator, a CoreLogic business, and commissioned by the MFAA.

Prospa Groundbreakers: John Macalyk of AAA Financial Group on making the days count

As the MFAA’s fifth ever member, John Macalyk is one of our industry’s longest serving professionals with more days under his belt than most. But it’s how the AAA Financial Group Managing Director has made his days count, staying one step ahead of a rapidly evolving industry to deliver top notch service for almost four decades that truly sets him apart.

Prospa's Long Road - Tales of Regional Brokers: Fiona Bryce of Loan Market

A resourceful businesswoman, Fiona Bryce of Loan Market, is this editions feature for Prospa Long Road - Tale of Regional Brokers. Fiona has managed to handle a isolated 250 acres of land, 150 heads of cattle, all while co-managing a successful broker business based in Sydney. Now weeks away from launching an online meat business, Fiona is stepping into 2021 at full speed.

Prospa's Long Road - Tales of Regional Brokers: David Coyner of Riverland Lending Services

When the pandemic showed signs of affecting the economy in early 2020 South Australian agricultural finance broker David Coyner decided to get his farming fix by helping a mate do some seeding. But the phone kept ringing, and rather than let the fact that he was sitting on a tractor stop him, David continued to take calls and help clients. It’s this commitment to customer service and passion for agriculture that ensures the Riverland Lending Services broker is at the top of his game.

Perth broker reveals benefits of MFAA award victory

Almost 15 years later, Michelle still recalls the euphoria she felt when she won her first “morgie” and encourages anyone considering entering the MFAA Excellence Awards to jump in and do it. “It was such a great experience. I was organising my wedding at the time, and I remember flying to Sydney and winning this prestigious award.

Prospa's Long Road - Tales of Regional Brokers: Aaron Vogt of Preferred Finance

This edition of Prospa’s Long Road – Tales of Regional Brokers focuses on MFAA Regional Excellence Award winning broker Aaron Vogt of Preferred Finance in Mount Barker, South Australia.

ASIC update on the Best Interests Duty & related reforms - fifth edition

The fifth of a series of regular ASIC updates on the best interests duty and related reforms which commence from 1 January 2021. This update focuses on packages.

MFAA Champions of Diversity – Simone Tilley ANZ

Discover the story of our latest Champion of Diversity, Simone Tilley, General Manager of Retail Broker for ANZ. Simone credits her career success to her adaptability, persistence, determination and hard work but admits even she did the usual “female thing” when she was approached to take on ANZ’s Retail Broker business by questioning whether she had enough experience.