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Mortgage Choice's outgoing boss has revealed he will help to find his successor, with financial planning experience considered a desirable trait.
Mortgage Choice announced on Wednesday that chief executive Michael Russell planned to retire from the group at the end of this financial year, after assuming the role in 2009.
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Mr Russell told The Adviser that he would be working closely with the board as it searches for a new chief executive.
He said Mortgage Choice had previously identified several strong internal candidates as part of its succession planning, and that talented outside candidates were also expected to apply.
"The CEO of Mortgage Choice is an incredibly privileged position within retail financial services, so the sort of candidate that we're looking for is someone with a proven track record in retail financial services, predominantly mortgages," he said.
"We'd like them to have had some exposure to financial planning, be a strategic thinker and most importantly have very strong people skills. Mortgage Choice is, after all, a community that survives and thrives on effective communications between all of our stakeholders."
Mr Russell has overseen Mortgage Choice's push into financial planning. The group increased its adviser numbers from 16 to 37 during the 12 months to 30 September 2014, with "significant growth" forecast in both revenue and recruitment this financial year.
"We're a long way off reaching capacity in terms of our adviser footprint and will be working hard over the next eight months to recruit advisers into our network to meet the demand from our mortgage customers," he said.
According to a BIS Shrapnel housing report that was published last month, Sydney and Melbourne prices are forecast to decline in 2016/2017.
However, Mr Russell said he didn't expect his successor would have to deal with a decline in Australia's two biggest housing markets.
"I don't subscribe to the notion that house prices are going to fall – not while demand is so strong as a result of housing undersupply," he said.
"That said, like any prudent organisation, we maintain an extensive risk register – we have mitigants for each risk that we've identified, and obviously falling house prices would constitute a reasonable risk for an organisation like ours to monitor closely."
Mr Russell told The Adviser that while he was retiring from Mortgage Choice, he was not retiring from the workforce, and would eventually look for a new role.
[Related: Mortgage Choice's fiercest rival salutes Mr Russell]
