All of Australia's mortgage and finance broking industry descended onto Melbourne Wednesday as the Mortgage and Finance Association of Australia (MFAA) kicked off its 2026 national conference.
Among the standout speaker lineup was MFAA Chief Executive Officer Anja Pannek conversation with Hon. Daniel Mulino, assistant treasurer and minister for financial services. The duo discussed the conference's theme of "Built on Trust. Ready for Tomorrow."
"That theme is a really critical one and is really central to the financial services sector overall," Mulino said in the screening shown at the conference and as seen by Australian Broker. "Trust is absolutely critical to this sector, because what we need to make sure, I think, is that some of the advisors, the brokers, the people [who] play such a key role in helping people navigate that system, are key, trusted advisers, and that people can rely on them for advice that is unbiased, that is unconflicted, that is high quality."
Set against a challenging economic landscape, the discussion focused on the increasingly important role mortgage brokers play as trusted advisers. With the 2026 to 2027 federal budget introducing a raft of tax changes, borrowers continue to grapple with elevated interest rates and inflationary pressures, property prices trending lower in many markets and ongoing global economic uncertainty weighing on confidence.
Meanwhile, mortgage brokers continue to take up a larger slice of Australia's loan markets. In fact, mortgage brokers now settled 81% of all new residential home loans nationwide, according to the MFAA.
"In our minds, that just highlights the deep trust that Australian consumers, and increasingly business owners, have in their broker," Pannek said.
At the conference, Pannek and Mulino examined how the industry can continue to build trust while helping clients make informed financial choices in an increasingly complex lending environment.
"When it comes to financial services, we rightly think of it as a sector which is complex and which involves a lot of technology, and as you and your members know, often complicated regulatory structures," Mulino said. "But I think your conference theme is a really important one, because trust is so central that at the heart of all of that complexity and that technology is the fact that so many of the key players in the financial services sector end up being trusted advisors and guiders to people in some of the most important decisions in their life. And what I think makes this conference and what you and your members do every day so important is that you're providing guidance to people about one of the most important decisions they make in their life, which is buying a house, how to finance that [home and] how to secure that over the longer term.
"And that is incredibly important advice that people are seeking," Mulino said. "And so, I think that, what we need to look at is the ways in which that advice can be provided in an efficient way, an affordable way, an accessible way. But I think we also need to focus on the ways in which mortgage brokers can do that in a way where they do become trusted advisers and can provide our people with the high quality services they need."
