The MFAA honoured 18 winners at its NSW/ACT Excellence Awards on Thursday, June 8, in front of a large crowd at The Fullerton Hotel in Sydney.
The event celebrated the accomplishments of MFAA members across a broad range of areas, including customer service, professionalism, ethics, growth, and innovation.
Held across five separate events across the country in June, the state excellence awards will culminate in the highly anticipated National MFAA Excellence Awards ceremony on Thursday, July 27.
The MFAA NSW/ACT State Excellence Awards was the second event to occur after the Queensland awards were held on June 1. All winners across the state events will be finalists at the national awards in their respective categories.
Speaking on the night, MFAA CEO Anja Pannek said the quality of nominations received was outstanding and commended all finalists and winners.
“I’m continually impressed by the commitment our members have to their clients and the exceptional work they do every day, and their willingness to share their stories is something to be valued,” Pannek said. “The MFAA Excellence Awards not only recognise individual achievements but also foster a culture of continuous improvement in our industry.”
Ashleigh Pakis from Panache Financial (pictured above left) took out the Regional Finance Broker Award and the Young Professional Award while Zippy Financial Group’s Louisa Sanghera (pictured above right) won the Residential Finance Broker Award.
Digital bank, ubank, won the Fintech Lender Award, which is sponsored by Australian Broker. ubank’s head of broker distribution George Srbinovski is pictured above (centre).
Sponsors for the awards included Key Media’s MPA magazine, ANZ, BOQ, Commonwealth Bank, Helia, La Trobe Financial, Macquarie Bank, ME Bank, Mortgage Choice, National Australia Bank, Prospa, QBE and Teachers Mutual Bank Limited.
The peak industry body said the awards were audited by accounting firm Hall Chadwick and were judged equally based on excellence and professionalism across all areas of business.
The 2023 MFAA NSW/ACT State Excellence Award winners are as follows:
- Business Development Manager Award – Aggregator: Erin Williams, AFG
- Business Development Manager Award – Lender/Support Service Provider: Liz Mollica, Resimac
- Commercial & Equipment Finance Broker Award: Kevin Wheatley, Bayside Residential & Commercial Mortgages
- Community Champion Award: Louisa Sanghera, Zippy Financial Group
- Customer Service Award – Business: Birdie Wealth
- Customer Service Award – Individual: Kathy Dundas, No Fuss Home Loans
- Diversified Business Award: Birdie Wealth
- Finance Broker Business Award: Birdie Wealth
- Fintech Lender Award: ubank
- Loan Administrator Award: Tram Nguyen, OneSite Finance
- Major Lender Award: Macquarie Bank
- Mutual/Credit Union Lender Award: Teachers Mutual Bank Limited
- Newcomer Award: James Brett, Truly Finance
- Non-Major Lender Award: ING
- Regional Finance Broker Award: Ashleigh Pakis, Panache Financial
- Residential Finance Broker Award: Louisa Sanghera, Zippy Financial Group
- Specialty Lender Award: Pepper Money
- Young Professional Award: Ashleigh Pakis, Panache Financial
