Finsure Managing Director John Kolenda has told Australian Broker that innovation by brokers has been at the root of the aggregator’s success in the last year.
They have grown to boast a network of almost 2,000 brokers across Australia, and are now reaching $2 billion in monthly settlements on a regular basis. Kolenda told our magazine that, while COVID-19 had been a tough period for everyone, it was a time in which the broker channel came together and adapted to new challenges.
“The COVID period has been challenging for all industries, and the broking sector is no exception,” he said. “From a Finsure perspective, the adjustments we had to make during lockdown periods when we had to temporarily close the Finsure head office and management and staff worked from home have been inspiring.”
“We were always able to maintain communications with our broker network. With interstate travel restricted, training and personal development days were conducted online via webinars. We had regular online meetings and even socialised on Friday afternoons via video conferencing platforms. I think it enhanced our culture.”
“We have gradually returned to normal with personal development face-to-face again, but a lot was learnt from those adjustments we had to make. Brokers through COVID have demonstrated their adaptability to challenging situations, which will hold them in good stead as they continue taking a larger share of the mortgage market.”
“Brokers have also quickly adapted to the introduction of BID, which helps them differentiate themselves more from direct channels and further increase their market share, which is at an all-time high and will continue to grow further and follow other international markets, which are over 80%.”
Finsure were recently crowned Best Mortgage Aggregator at the Australian Lending Awards for the second year in a row.
“To be acknowledged with this top industry award is a great testimony to the contributions of all our staff, their tireless efforts and achieving consistently great results year-on-year, including consistently reaching $2bn in monthly settlements, while our loan book surpassed the $50bn milestone.”
Read the full story in Australian Broker magazine which is available from 3 May.
