The Finance Brokers Association of Australia (FBAA) is growing.
The non-profit broking organization's membership jumped 19.5% in the 12 months ending in June 2025, or the end of Australia's financial year, reaching a record-high 13,298 members. That's an additional 2,174 members in the last year.
And by 1 August, the numbers were up again, to 13,400. The organization said around 95% of its members are exclusively aligned with the association, with no ties to other professional bodies, and brokers made up 92% of the total membership.
"There's always a lot going on in this industry," Peter White, FBAA's managing director, told Australian Broker. "And there's a lot on at the moment." He added that brokers – who currently settle about 77% of all residential home loans in Australia – will likely hit 80% in the future.
"That's an unrealistic achievement," White said.
"We are grateful for the confidence our members have shown in us, by making us the nation's largest industry association for individual finance and mortgage brokers," he added. "It's been a very big year investing in our team and an even bigger year ahead investing into our business and members."
The group recently came together for its inaugural black-tie gala in Tasmania, where it celebrated local brokers, BDMs, aggregators and lenders, while fostering industry connections and supporting charity.
In the coming year, the FBAA plans to continue engaging with regulators and members of parliament, strengthening its role as a voice for brokers. The organization also plans to expand its broker education offerings, upgrade internal systems to better support members and roll out new tech tools designed to enhance their success.
This, White said, "will ensure a solid and relevant base of knowledge is available to members at the highest professional capabilities available.”
The FBAA’s membership surge comes against a backdrop of rising living costs, a national housing crunch, soaring property prices, increasing broker reliance Down Under, global instability and ongoing uncertainty around monetary policy.
"I don't believe the industry's got anything to be concerned about with that," White said. "The markets are buoyant."
On the prospect of another rate cut at the Reserve Bank of Australia's (RBA) upcoming meeting, White agreed that the central bank needs to review all the data before making a call.
At the same time, growing concern is emerging among brokers that technology – or more specifically artificial intelligence – will render them obsolete.
"People shouldn't be scared of technology. But you've got to use it the right way," White said. "Because they are a great tool to be using. It's a bit like the tide: it's not going away; it's coming in. And you're not going to stop it coming in. It's only going to increase. So you need to embrace it and work with it. If you don't, you're certainly going to get left behind.
"A lot of people say, 'oh, with artificial intelligence and all that sort of stuff, brokers are dead in the water.' But it's not changing the game for brokers. AI is a tool, and so long as brokers use the tool wisely and appropriately, then it's a very helpful tool, one that they should be using," he said. "They need to embrace the whole technology movement with artificial intelligence and various apps, and so on, whether it's ChatGPT, or whatever it is. Brokers need to be embracing that and using it – but they need to know what they're doing."
