Login
ISCOVER
Jessica Darnbrough
Two of Australia's most respected franchises have announced their intention to join forces.
To continue reading the rest of this article, please log in.
Looking for more benefits? Become a Premium Member.
Create free account to get unlimited news articles and more!
Looking for more benefits? Become a Premium Member.
Effective from 1 April, Smartline will merge with The Mortgage Gallery.
Smartline currently boasts 210 franchises nationally, as well as a raft of industry accolades.
Earlier this year, the brokerage claimed the MFAA's Mortgage Broker of the Year. In addition, it has been recognised as Australia‟s number one franchise by Topfranchise.com.au three years in a row.
Meanwhile, WA-based The Mortgage Gallery is a highly respected mortgage broking group that has been in business for 20 years.
The combined group will be a significant player in the mortgage industry, with more than 240 franchise owners nationally settling $4 billion in loans per year, with a combined loan book in excess of $17 billion.
The Mortgage Gallery brand and management team will continue under the merger.
In 2009 Smartline completed a merger with another of the original WA-based mortgage broker groups, Mortgage Force, which has been very successful.
Smartline managing director Chris Acret said Smartline and The Mortgage Gallery were a "great fit‟.
"The Mortgage Gallery is a great business," Mr Acret said.
"Both groups share similar values and have a similar culture – a culture of helping each other, professionalism and a real client focus. Both companies have a franchise model with a commitment to helping their franchise owners succeed and grow.
"The Mortgage Gallery brokers are highly regarded right across the industry for their professionalism and have a reputation for providing their clients with great service.
"We're excited about this move and confident that it will provide significant benefits for everyone involved."
The Mortgage Gallery director John Bignell said he was delighted to be merging with Smartline.
"The Smartline business model will complement our existing way of doing business while adding significant value to our franchisees and loan writers," he said.
"The Mortgage Gallery has been successfully operating as a stand-alone business for 20 years, during this time we have built a core group of business owners who are not only great at what they do, and at running their business, but they are fantastic people.
"Merging with Smartline gives us the scale and resources to continue to grow and build our businesses, despite tougher market conditions. We are very confident that this merger will be a great long term result for all of our businesses and people."
