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Ahead of today's annual Mortgage Choice Xmas media lunch, I hauled out an old suit I'd not worn for some time and on my way into work, found a note in the breast pocket.

When I unfolded it I discovered that it had the heading "Questions for Michael Russell", something of a coincidence you'd agree given today's gathering.

The first question I'd prepared for our meeting read: "Having had a few months to reflect - what do you think the Challenger deal has done for Choice and for the wider market?"

I then realised that these series of questions were nearly two years old, prepared for a lunch I had with Michael Russell in November 2007, when he was still in charge of Choice Aggregation, and shortly after Challenger had stunned the market with its purchase of Choice, PLAN Australian and 19% of FAST.

Intriguingly, my second question was: "How is the transition in ownership [to Challenger] going?"

Just reflecting on these two questions brought home the realisation of how quickly and severely things have changed in the industry.

Michael Russell has of course moved on to steer Mortgage Choice down a new path of diversification and wholesale aggregation while Choice's 'ownership transition' has been turned upside down with Challenger making way for NAB under the new 'Advantedge' label.

I remember it as a very pleasant lunch, down a Melbourne laneway not far from the Challenger office where Choice is still based.

We discussed many industry issues at the time, including that of consolidation and the arrival of a band of new aggregators offering brokers equity in their businesses (readers may recall a series of columns we ran in Australian Broker at the time debating the viability of these new entrants).

While the first signs of what was then a " US sub prime crisis" were just starting to emerge, no one could have predicted, back then, that Choice would change hands again and that a major bank would own three of the country's biggest aggregators, not too mention all the other major upheavals - CBA/BankWest, CBA/Aussie, Aussie/Wizard, Westpac/RAMS/St.George.

One can only wonder what the landscape will look like two years from now...

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