Speaking at an event hosted by PritchittBland Communications in Sydney on 27 January, the shadow assistant treasurer and the shadow minister for financial services and superannuation, Stephen Jones MP, confirmed that the Australian Labor Party had no intentions of changing the current broker remuneration structure and that commissioner Kenneth Hayne “probably wasn’t right” on his recommendation to move to a consumer-pays model.

February

Brokers gain CDR open banking access

The open banking regime opened up consumer data to mortgage brokers, along with other “trusted advisers” in February.

The government amended the Consumer Data Right (CDR) rules to support increased participation in the data-sharing scheme by businesses and consumers.

Consumers are now allowed to share their open banking data with trusted professional advisers, such as their mortgage broker, financial adviser, accountant, tax agent or financial counsellor.

Ahead of the trusted adviser model rolling out, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (ASIC) released new guidance explaining the key privacy obligations relating to how CDR disclosures should be given to “trusted advisers”, including mortgage brokers.

March

Government drops remuneration review

Assistant Treasurer Michael Sukkar MP revealed that the federal government would not proceed with the broker remuneration review this year, after acknowledging that the broker commission structure was not problematic. 

Based on industry feedback that the government said it had received on the effectiveness of reforms to date, the assistant treasurer said the government had formed the view the current mortgage broker remuneration structures are “effective in providing consumers the choice they need when choosing a home loan provider”.

Judgement released in Connective shareholder court case

In his 453-page judgement — which has taken nearly two years to be reached — Judge Robson found in favour of Mr Tsialtas, outlining that he believed the company and the directors had been “oppressive to, unfairly prejudicial to, and unfairly discriminatory” against the minority shareholder, and had breached their duties as directors in carrying out the restructure and sale. 

April

Brokers warn of rising channel conflict behaviours

With a booming property market, more and more borrowers looking hard at mortgage repayments, and considering refinancing ahead of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s first rate increase for more than a decade, brokers warned that several banks had begun exhibiting channel conflict behaviours that are sometimes not in the best interests of mortgagor.

Several brokers reached out to The Adviser to outline their concerns that clients who are trying to refinance away from their existing lender are increasingly having their head turned at the last minute by retention teams who are contacting the client at the discharge stage to offer them a range of incentives not made available at the earlier repricing stage.

Pepper to take majority stake in Stratton Finance

Non-bank lender Pepper Money Limited (Pepper Money) executed binding agreements to acquire a 65 per cent interest in Stratton Finance Pty Limited (Stratton) for $78 million.

The transaction valued Stratton at $120 million aimed to bolster Pepper’s existing asset finance business. According to Pepper, the acquisition would not only provide it with a new and immediate avenue for sustained incremental origination volume for Pepper Money’s asset finance business, but also broaden its distribution footprint through Stratton’s broker base and franchise network, and provide the Stratton network with access to all of Pepper Money’s products across mortgages, personal loans and commercial real estate loans.

May

Labor wins federal election

After Australians across the nation took to the polls to elect members of the 47th Parliament of Australia on 21 May, it was declared that the Australian Labor Party (ALP) had won the federal election.

With the country now facing a rising interest rate environment amid record-high property prices, a key focus of this campaign was on housing affordability (largely centred on home ownership, rather than renting).

The Australian Labor Party had committed to bringing in a suite of policies designed to improve housing affordability and ownership, including a new Help to Buy scheme, a Regional First Home Buyer Support Scheme, and $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund.

RBA hikes rate for the first time in over a decade

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) inched up the cash rate from its historic low level of 0.1 per cent, up by 25 bps to 0.35 per cent in May.

The move came two years earlier than the RBA expected in its forecasts last year, as inflation has accelerated, surging to 5.1 per cent for the year to March, while underlying inflation hit 3.7 per cent.

It marked the first movement for the cash rate since November 2020, when the RBA slashed it from 0.25 per cent and began broad quantitative easing. The last time the rate increased was more than a decade prior, in November 2010. The central bank went on to raise the cash rate every month to December — closing the year at 3.10 per cent.

Mike Felton announces retirement

Mike Felton, the chief executive officer (CEO) of the Mortgage and Finance Association of Australia (MFAA), announced at the association’s national conference that he would retire from full-time work later in the year. 

Mr Felton told MFAA members that the time was right for him to also “look up and look ahead” now that the future of broker remuneration is more certain.

Addressing MFAA delegates attending in person and online, Mr Felton said: “For me, personally, it is time to look up and look ahead to my future horizon.”

June

NSW confirms stamp duty reforms from 2023 

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet confirmed that the state would be giving borrowers the option of paying stamp duty or an annual property tax as part of a multibillion-dollar housing package announced in the 2022–23 NSW budget to deliver quality, accessible and affordable housing across NSW.

From 16 January 2023, eligible first home buyers who opt into the First Home Buyer Choice will not pay stamp duty on their purchase.

The property tax option will be available for properties for up to $1.5 million.

Under the new initiative, first home buyers who opt into the property tax will pay an annual property tax of $400 plus 0.3 per cent of the land value of the property.

Volt Bank announces it will close

Mortgage Choice interim chief executive Anthony Waldron was confirmed as CEO, financial services and Mortgage Choice. He also joined REA’s executive leadership team.

Mr Waldron succeeded Janelle Hopkins, who led the growth of the group’s financial services businesses over the last three years, including the acquisition of Mortgage Choice and its integration with Smartline, in addition to her responsibilities as group chief financial officer.

July

ASIC introduces short-term lending product interventions

According to ASIC, this new amendment removed the ambiguity and ensured that the regulator could use its product intervention powers to “intervene in relation to the costs of a financial and credit product”.

August

Anja Pannek named new MFAA CEO

The board of the MFAA confirmed that Anja Pannek would be the association’s next CEO, taking over the helm from 5 September. 

Ms Pannek took over the position from Mike Felton.

Her extensive experience in the broker and mortgage distribution space was flagged, with the MFAA noting she had held a range of leadership roles at several aggregation and lending companies. 

She was formerly the CEO in PLAN Australia from 2016–22 and then moved into the position of group executive, lending solutions and strategy at the Loan Market Group following its acquisition of the aggregation company.

In Memoriam: Mark Lewis, 1963–2022

Mark “Lewie” Lewis, a long-serving partnership manager at FAST, passed away at the age of 59 after a nine-month battle with pancreatic cancer.

Mr Lewis was a well-known identity in the third-party broker industry, best known for his 13-year career as a partnership manager with FAST. 

While working at the aggregation group, Mr Lewis became known for his quick wit, affection and astounding knowledge of broker businesses. 

September

2 community bank merger proposals approved 

2 aggregators merge to create asset finance supergroup

ASX-listed asset finance group COG Financial Services (COG) announced it was merging its two aggregation companies: Platform Finance and Consolidated Finance Group (CFG). 

The merged aggregation company, COG Aggregation, is expected to become the largest asset finance services broking business in the country — responsible for $6.7 billion in asset finance volume.

The merger took effect as of 6 October, with unification progressing over the rest of the year.

The new group has over 700 individual broker members across around 250 broking business.

MAB Australia MD departs

November

Non-major bank launches into broker channel

Mutual lender RACQ (Royal Automobile Club of Queensland) Bank began working with brokers for the first time since the bank launched in 2017.

The Queensland-based bank, which provides home loans, car loans, personal loans, and banking services, started a pilot with three individual brokers but expects to announce two aggregator partnerships imminently.

Brokers are now serviced by business development manager (BDM) Kevin Seeley, who reports to the bank’s head of third party, Claire Farquhar.

Newcastle Perm/Greater Bank merger approved

Members of Greater Bank and Newcastle Permanent voted in favour of merging the two lenders together under Newcastle Greater Mutual Group.

The merger, which will come into effect from 1 March 2023 should it gain regulatory approvals from the prudential regulator, will create a combined entity with more than $20 billion in total assets and approximately 600,000 customers.

However, it will follow a multi-brand strategy — with both Greater Bank and Newcastle Permanent remaining as separate identities under the merged group.

As such, there will be no change to customer bank accounts or banking details on merging.

December

Personal lender Alex Bank becomes full bank

Brokers now have access to a new bank, after Alex Bank was granted a licence to operate as an authorised deposit-taking institution (ADI) by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA).