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Supporting Australia’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) continues to be a compelling opportunity for brokers who wish to diversify their offering. In this interview, George Obeid, chief third-party officer at leading SME lender Judo Bank, talks about some of the trends he’s seeing in the SME space and what brokers should be doing to make the most of them.
What challenges are you seeing for brokers in 2025?
Increased competition. The market is becoming increasingly competitive with the return of proprietary channels through fintech, lending and online platforms established by majors, and a rapid growth in the broker numbers last year and the year before.
We’re seeing a lot more bankers go out to be brokers, so there’s a lot more experience coming into the industry, which I think is only a good thing. But it is a challenge for existing brokers in terms of their own strategy to market as well.
The financial landscape is constantly evolving with new regulations and compliance requirements on brokers and aggregators, making it critical for brokers to stay informed and adapt to change.
I think tech adoption is both a threat and an opportunity. Brokers can embrace technology to streamline operations, improve efficiency and stay ahead of the curve, including things like leveraging CRM systems, data analytics and digital communication tools. But all of that comes together with how they manage and maintain their own client relationships.
[With] the growth of broker numbers, it’s important for brokers to build and maintain strong client relationships for that long-term success in their business. Brokers need to demonstrate value and provide ongoing support to their clients.
Why do brokers need to think about differentiating their offerings?
It is really important for brokers to think about their business holistically around what their services are to their clients. Brokers are becoming the prime relationship conduit for lenders and are the trusted adviser to their customers. They have the ability to diversify their income stream by offering a range of services – business advisory, insurance… and (the obvious) home lending and equipment finance.
By providing exceptional and diverse service, brokers can really build stronger relationships with clients and secure repeat business.
What are some of the big themes you are seeing in the SME space?
SMEs will likely continue to face difficulty with sourcing workers. The silver lining is that it will incentivise SME innovation in the economy as well.
[It] makes a big difference and we want to start seeing more of that innovation come through. We expect ongoing labour pressures into this year and it will drive SMEs to invest in new capital and processes to improve their businesses, making them more efficient and less labour driven.
Where is the opportunity for brokers to work with the SME market?
If you think about a broker and what their role is – it is to understand all those moving parts, understand where the risks are and where the opportunities are, and then to provide that level of knowledge and support to their clients.
That’s where the growth of the broker market, in particular, the SME market, will come from.
AI and tech will enable and help brokers. But ultimately their specialisation, their understanding of where the market is at, is where the benefit is for brokers going into 2025 and beyond. It really does change the landscape of a broker, if they could really hone in on the SME market and [understand] where those trends are heading.
What value can brokers provide to their SME clients?
SMEs are time poor. So they do need that support and that assistance from their trusted advisers, [so] that they can sit back, understand the landscape.
[Brokers] don’t need to understand their business in great detail. That’s what the business owner is there for, but they do need to really understand and support them through the path they're taking. SMEs have got their head down running their business so they do require that, that level of oversight from, from a broker. That’s where the evolution of the broker market is heading, particularly in the SME space.
What support does Judo Bank provide to brokers?
We do a weekly 15-minute snapshot update with our chief economist, Warren Hogan, every Monday morning.
A lot of brokers like to listen to that because they can join the dots week-on-week and understand the trends. They’re armed [with information] when they’re going out to see their clients, and it makes all the difference.
We [also] provide insight data to brokers around where the SME market is heading and what we’re sort of seeing with research papers that we complete too.
So we try to ensure brokers are kept up to date.
You can listen to the full interview with George Orbeid, chief third party officer at leading SME lender Judo Bank, here:
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