Morning Briefing: Leading aggregator surpasses $50 billion mark

A leading aggregation group's trail book has smashed through the $50 billion mark... White takes aim at broker bashing association

Leading aggregator surpasses $50 billion mark
Aggregator Choice has reached more than $50 billion in the value of its trail book, which it credits to its strong growth in recruitment, retention and settlements over the past two years.
Bringing onboard 500 new brokers since 2013 and acheiving record settlement growth of 28% year-on-year for the year ended September 2014, chief executive Stephen Moore said that reaching $50 billion in trail book value was a milestone achievement for Choice, and testament to the aggregator’s model of providing tailored support based on individual broker business needs.
“The phenomenal growth we have experienced as a business over the past couple of years really speaks to the strength of our brokers’,” Moore said. “As consumer interest in the broker channel has grown, our brokers have positioned themselves ideally to benefit from that industry expansion.”
“Through consulting with brokers on an individual level, and helping them to develop a tailored plan for business growth, we have delivered successful outcomes for our brokers across the board.”
Moore says that with their estimations showing 300 more brokers will have joined the Choice team by September 2015, recruitment growth would remain strong for the aggregator.
“We are actively searching for brokers that are looking to take their business to the next level,” said Moore. “We want to be able to replicate the strong success seen in recent years and build a sustainable business for our members going forward.”
“By listening to broker needs and providing them with tailored support, whether it be under their own brand, our Choice Home Loans retail franchise or one of our existing broker groups, we believe we can add significant value to broker businesses.”
 

White takes aim at broker bashing association
The FBAA has defended brokers after the Customer Owned Banking Association (COBA) took aim at the third party channel in a submission to the parliamentary inquiry into home ownership.
In its submission, COBA claimed that brokers “fall a long way short” of delivering the best result for consumers because consumers incorrectly believe that mortgage brokers have access to all products from all lenders in the market.
However, the chief executive of the FBAA, Peter White has come out in defence of brokers, saying that these comments are naïve.
“The comments about brokers are a little bit narrow-minded. It was finance brokers in the early nineties that for the first time in Australia’s lending history actually bought choice to the customers. Without that, you were always at the dictatorship or the bank or the building society or the credit union,” he told Australian Broker.
“So to turn around and criticise and say brokers don’t represent all lenders, well the whole world knows that. It is on the credit guide as to what lenders are on their panel. It is on their website as to what lenders are on their panel. It is a legal disclosure upfront in the credit guide.”