The 10 stories that made 2013

Under the guise of creating a ‘mormon utopia’ for elderly parishioners in Canning Vale, Catherine Anne Thompson of Mortgage Miracles defrauded 24 investors of $4 million in November.

While Ms Thompson is currently serving a five-year jail sentence, she has been permanently banned from providing credit advice.

9. Howard praises Labor economy

With the federal election date announced at the end of January, the political mudslinging was well under way in May when Mr Howard praised the country’s economy at the MFAA conference in Sydney.

“When the current prime minister and the Treasurer and others tell you that the Australian economy is doing better than most – they are right,” he said.

Labor ministers, candidates and campaign managers got hold of the exclusive story from The Adviser, tweeted it and ended up causing a major headache for the Liberals' PR department.

8.Two brokers banned, one jailed

ASIC capped off a succession of broker bans at the beginning of this month, with three Sydney-based brokers shown the door after supplying false information to lenders.

Wen Yao Hsieh (also known as Leon Hsieh and Adrian Hsieh) of Castle Hill, NSW and Ms Chia Min Shen of North Parramatta, NSW submitted seven loan applications, worth over $3 million but with false information, to AMP, Westpac and Bendigo & Adelaide Bank.

At the same time, Hee Send Lee of Dural, NSW was convicted of providing false information to banks to secure approvals for home loans totalling almost $7.5 million.

Mr Lee was sentenced to two years' imprisonment, to be served by way of an intensive correction order.

7. High LVR, no LMI and no savings product sparks debate

Australian First Mortgage’s new alternative prime plus product, with up to 95 per cent LVR, no LMI, no credit scoring and no genuine savings drew mixed responses from the industry in December.

Joint managing director David White claimed the stand-out feature, self-insurance, will help brokers obtain loan approvals without the need to adhere to the mortgage insurer’s tight credit scoring and underwriting policies.

Brokers weren’t as excited as AFM may have anticipated, however, with many calling the product irresponsible.

“Just because it's self-insured does not take away the distress of repossession, or the recriminations and finger pointing if it all goes wrong. Genuine savings and LMI are a necessary check and balance and for the life of me I cannot comprehend a lender lending 95 per cent to a borrower with no genuine savings history,” one commenter said.

6. Finsure buys Loankit

Retail finance brokerage Finsure announced the acquisition of mortgage aggregator LoanKit from Mortgage Choice in August.

Finsure managing director John Kolenda said the acquisition of LoanKit provided Finsure with both the broker numbers and market strategy to easily break into the ranks of the top five brokerages within five years.

The combined scale of Finsure and LoanKit boosted broker numbers to more than 500, with a loan book of almost $4 billion.

5. MFAA terminates 1,100 memberships

Many industry professionals had doubts that the MFAA would follow through on its threat of cancelling memberships of those who did not adhere to its diploma level certification policy – but true to its word, the MFAA did just that in March.

Many brokers were outraged, as industry veterans were shown the door while inexperienced rookies were welcomed with open arms. Others believed the broking community had had ample time, and enough warning, to get the qualification.

4. Banned broker hits back at ASIC

The broking community rallied around one of their own after Alex Dryden, one of the first victims of ASIC's crackdown on brokers in 2013, was banned for six months for a ‘simple’ mistake.

ASIC banned Mr Dryden on the grounds of his failing to lodge his annual compliance certificate on time, and for a clause in his contract which allowed him to place a caveat on a property.

ASIC raised the issue and Mr Dryden swiftly removed the clause, which had never been used, and awaited the regulator's final approval before submitting his compliance certificate – delaying the process beyond the deadline.

Comments demonstrated support for Mr Dryden from around the country, with many believing ASIC was too heavy handed with the six-month ban.

3. Bluestone returns to the third party channel

After exiting the industry in the middle of the GFC, one of Australia's largest specialist lenders returned in late June.

“We are thrilled to be re-entering the market with one of our long-standing partners in AFG,” Bluestone's general manager of asset management, Peter Wood, said.

“By partnering the largest provider of mortgage broking services in Australia, Bluestone is committing to offering a genuine alternative to those borrowers who may have been declined by the major banks.”

2. Macquarie acquires chunk of Connective

In late November, one of Australia’s independent aggregators sold a 25 per cent stake in the company to Macquarie Group.

The share in Connective is the biggest investment Macquarie has made in the aggregation space.

Connective was recognised as the Australian Broking Awards' Aggregator of the Year and the MFAA Wholesale Aggregator of the Year in 2013.

With its estimated 1,900 members settling in the region of $1.4 billion in loans each month, the acquisition of Connective shows the industry that lenders have confidence in the broker distribution channel.

1. Kathy Cummings departs CBA

Third-party stalwart Kathy Cummings, CBA’s executive general manager of third party and mobile banking, announced her departure in November after 19 years with the lender.

In an email sent to several key industry stakeholders, Ms Cummings revealed her intention to leave Australia’s biggest mortgage lender at the end of the year.

With mixed emotions, Ms Cummings said she had enjoyed the challenges and triumphs that leading the third party team had provided.

Ms Cummings’ departure received mixed reactions from brokers, with many criticising her methods and others claiming the channel would not be anywhere near as robust as it is without her influence.