Former Adelaide Bank executive Damian Percy is to join Australian Finance Group later this month as its first GM of AFG Securities.
AFG has announced that following an “extensive search”, it has appointed industry stalwart Damian Percy to the role of general manager of AFG Securities.
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Mr Percy, who left the Bendigo and Adelaide Bank group in March after nearly 20 years of service, will head up the AFG Securities loan book from 23 September.
Speaking of the appointment, AFG CEO David Bailey said that the newly created role would “steward the evolution” of the AFG Securities loan book, which is reportedly now at $2.06 billion.
“We have conducted an extensive search for the right person to head up this important part of the business, and I am very confident Damian is an excellent fit for AFG Securities,” he said.
“He is well placed to ensure this key part of our business continues to grow.”
Noting Mr Percy’s 20-year career with the Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Group, most notably as general manager of third-party lending, Mr Bailey highlighted that the new GM of AFG Securities had experience in “all aspects of running a significant mortgage business, including distribution, strategy, pricing, operations, funding and credit risk”.
“Damian has a long association with AFG and the AFG Securities business through his various roles at the banking group. The success of our own-branded home products has been a key strategy by AFG to offer true choice to Australian home buyers.
“Adelaide Bank has been a funding partner for our products for 23 years and Damian has been a central part of that relationship,” he said, adding that the aggregation group “looks forward to welcoming him”.
Speaking of his appointment, Mr Percy commented: “To have the opportunity to work with people and a business I have had a long association with and enormous admiration for, really is a once-in-a-lifetime thing, and I’m greatly honoured and genuinely excited to be joining the AFG team.
“AFG Securities has established an excellent reputation with the AFG membership as is evident from the exceptional growth of the last few years, and I’m looking forward to building on what is already a highly regarded and customer-focused proposition.”
AFG’s mortgage securities recently doubled in settlements (according to the aggregator’s full-year results for the 2019 financial year), and the securitisation business is a key draw card for the recently announced merger between AFG and Connective.
According to Connective director Mark Haron, AFG’s securitisation program would give Connective “the ability to control and manage [its] destiny and help brokers manage theirs”.
[Related: Third party veteran to leave bank after nearly 20 years]