After thousands of applications, over 100 finalists and five state awards throughout June, the MFAA‘s 2023 National Excellence Awards culminated last week revealing 24 of the industry’s best across a variety of categories.
Australian Broker talked to some of the winning businesses and asked them what makes them the crème de la crème in their category.
Diversity and inclusion and community champions
Among the event’s most prestigious accolades were the Diversity and Inclusion and Community Champions award categories.
Facing stiff competition, Perth-based brokerage TAG Financial Group took the MFAA Community Champion Award after committing to several charity initiatives. At the WA state awards alone, TAG Financial Group was selected out of 650 award submissions.
Sally Chadwick (pictured centre left), executive manager of corporate communications at Mortgage Choice, said the award was “particularly meaningful”, as it recognised the work of the teams and brokers involved in shaping the Mortgage Choice Aspire program.
The Aspire program, aimed at bolstering female representation in the industry, has been instrumental in Mortgage Choice’s achievement of a female representation in its network, which recently surpassed the industry average by nearly 10%.
“Congratulations to all other finalists who are working to create a more diverse broking industry and thank you to the MFAA for hosting such a fantastic event,” Chadwick said.
Clean sweeps in lending
A regular at the event’s podium, Macquarie was awarded the National Major Lender of the Year title for the fourth consecutive year after a clean sweep in every state awards ceremony.
Ben Perham (pictured centre right), head of personal banking for Macquarie’s banking and financial services group, said the recognition is a testament to Macquarie’s commitment to providing “exceptional service and support for the broker community”.
“As a committed partner to the broker industry, the recognition is especially important to us as it is voted for by brokers we work with every day. We really appreciate the time our brokers take to provide feedback as it helps shape how we continue to enhance our offering for customers and brokers,” Perham said.
Perham said the award can largely be attributed to Macquarie’s home loan ecosystem, which has been driven by an investment in “leading technology”.
This has resulted in new features that have delivered a “seamless experience end to end” for the major lender’s customers and brokers.
“We’re focused on digital improvements because it gives confidence, control and more time for brokers to focus on the important things – their clients and growing their business,” Perham said. “We will continue to invest and develop these platforms further to ensure that it continues to deliver best-in-class digital functionality.”
Another lender to make the coveted clean sweep was digital bank ubank, which won the Fintech Lender of the Year Award, which was sponsored this year by Australian Broker.
This came after it ramped up its distribution through the almost 11,000 brokers it has accredited earlier this year. The bank also aimed to win brokers over with a loan process supported by innovative digital tools, experiences, and a faster speed to approval, according to head of broker distribution George Srbinovski (pictured far right).
“Our team’s dedication and commitment to providing exceptional service to their brokers has been outstanding. At ubank, we believe in being fast, simple, and digital in the home lending space, streamlining the process for our brokers and customers alike,” Srbinovski said.
“Embracing digital innovation has redefined the lending experience, and we’re excited about the future as we continue to empower brokers in helping individuals and families achieve their homeownership dreams.”
No nonsense non-bank
Narrowly missing the clean sweep, Pepper Money won Specialty Lender of the Year after taking out the state excellence awards for NSW/ACT, QLD, WA, and SA/NT.
The previous financial year was a big one for the non-bank lender. After establishing a new white label partnership with My Local Broker in December last year, Pepper Money launched an innovative fixed rate interest home loan product and removed clawbacks on commercial mortgage loans.
This culminated in a broker-led campaign and the non-bank lender’s flagship event Insights Live.
“We’re incredibly proud to have been recognised as the industry leading Specialty Lender at last night’s Mortgage and Finance Association of Australia (MFAA) 2023 Excellence Awards,” the company said.
