Blank Financial is expanding. And the Melbourne-based brokerage marked the next phase of its growth story with a stylish party in the penthouse of South Melbourne's Luminare.
The firm, which was founded in 2017 by Bernard Desmond, has added five brokers under the Blank Financial brand — Nimesha Randeniya, Calvin Furnell, Rebecca Timms, Rex Francis and Jose Lainez-Sanchez — bringing the total number of brokers, including Desmond, to six. Now, the brokerage has its sights set on reaching 100 brokers by 2030.
Desmond (center) with the newest members of his team.
"I've mastered my business and really perfected it over the last nine years," Desmond, who serves as founder and chief executive officer of Blank, told Australian Broker. "This year, we've licensed the brand and we're bringing established brokers under the brand."
Desmond added that the expansion "represents our vision coming to life: creating a business where ambitious brokers can retain their individuality while having the brand, infrastructure, support and community behind them to grow."
The celebration kicked off cocktails, dancing, magic tricks and fireworks. Roughly 120 people turned out in their finest black-tie frocks, including brokers, real estate agents, banking and finance professionals, aggregators and more.
"It was a great evening," Desmond said.
"Most importantly, the night focused on our brokers, celebrating their individual journeys, strengthening industry relationships and recognising the opportunity ahead," he added.
Guests were treated to fireworks at the party.
Melbourne-based Desmond is a serial entrepreneur with a background spanning ME Bank, Westpac, Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland. He is also an award winning broker, having taken home accolades such as 2025's Mortgage & Finance Association of Australia (MFAA) State Excellence Awards for Victoria and Tasmania, and serves as the Finance Brokers Association of Australia's (FBAA) state president for Victoria and Tasmania.
Blank Financial, meanwhile, covers everything from residential loans to first-time homebuyers to commercial to asset finance. The firm works with the aggregator Specialist Finance Group (SFG).
When thinking about expanding his own business, the founder said he wanted brokers who were "solo brokers who had really hit their capacity.
"Our core strategy is to get in front of those brokers who are just losing their mojo, because they're not enjoying what they're doing; they're doing everything from sales to marketing to lead generation to loan processing to retention of the client. They're stuck," Desmond said.
"They're not able to grow their business any further, because to grow their business further they have to invest a lot more and bring in more staff and resources and systems and processes," he continued. "They're stuck at the $25 million to $40 million [annual sales] mark. With our offering and all the stuff we're doing, they can still work the same hours but be more productive."
The formula is simple: Blank provides the infrastructure, resources and connections, taking away admin work and giving it back to the brokers in time, allowing them to scale for a 30% commission. And Desmond said he's the one who can help other brokers do it.
"I've been a broker for nine years; I know exactly the challenges that a solo broker faces," he explained. "I've got corporate partnerships with a lot of real estate firms. And we've got expert people like credit managers, loan processors, settlement officers and marketing agencies who are doing all of that other work that's required for a broker to be consistently in front of new people.
"I think with our offering and what we're doing, where we are giving them back time in their day," Desmond continued. "Our expectation is to get them to $50 million to $100 million doing the same number of hours because we're getting them in front of more people, more opportunities."
But Desmond's ambitions don't end there. The founder plans to have 10 brokers under the Blank brand by the end of the year, and approximately 100 brokers working under him by 2030.
"Our offering is really resonating with the market because no one else is doing what we're doing right now," he said.
With recruitment ongoing, Desmond encouraged brokers interested in joining the brand to reach out to him directly.
