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The founders of the popular broker software business are set to leave the group, it has been announced.
ASX-listed aggregator Australian Finance Group (AFG) has confirmed that BrokerEngine founders Craig Vaughan and Will Swayne will leave the popular broker software business at the end of 2024.
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In 2021, AFG acquired a 70 per cent stake in BrokerEngine and steadily increased its interest to take full ownership last year.
Vaughan and Swayne’s departures come as part of a three-year succession plan, according to the aggregator, noting that the BrokerEngine team built by the founders will remain in place with department heads overseeing and managing their respective departments.
AFG CEO David Bailey thanked Vaughan and Swayne for their contribution to the BrokerEngine platform.
“Building a business to what it is today takes a lot of hard work, grit and determination and many late nights and sacrifices. They should be extremely proud of what they have achieved in that time,” Bailey said.
“It has been a pleasure working alongside them, and we wish them all the best as they take this well-deserved break after years of dedication and hard work.”
The AFG CEO added: “I am sure Will and Craig will be checking in on its continued growth and success. The BrokerEngine team is fully equipped and ready to take the business forward, delivering on its promise of innovation and value for brokers and their customers.”
In a joint statement, Vaughan and Swayne said building BrokerEngine had been a “challenging and rewarding journey”.
“We’re immensely proud of the impact it’s had on brokers and mortgage borrowers,” they said.
“We have been working towards this transition for three years, and we are confident the amazing team at BrokerEngine will continue to drive innovation and value for many years to come.”
The BrokerEngine journey
The software platform began its journey as a start-up, built by the brokers to manage workflow and provide transparency to broker teams.
Built to overcome his own frustrations with managing workflows, the software started as an in-house project before being rolled out to the broad broker market and gaining increasing popularity.
Speaking to The Adviser in 2020, Vaughan said he wanted to solve nine common challenges:
- Manage high volumes of leads, without letting opportunities slip through the cracks.
- Provide easy-to-understand and compliant advice documents to borrowers that would help to close deals faster.
- Streamline document collection and Missing Information Requests.
- Simplify delegation and teamwork so brokers can focus on clients and not be worried about errors.
- Save time on compliance, without cutting corners.
- Ensure balls are never dropped, no matter how busy you are or how tricky the deal.
- Systemise proactive loan reviews to cement lifelong client relationships.
- Grow volumes without simply throwing more staff at the problem. (And when you do hire, ensure every team member
is super productive as quickly as possible.) - Provide a five-star client experience at scale so clients enthusiastically refer.
The broker software platform’s subscriber numbers have increased by 140 per cent, and AFG recently rolled out an enhanced platform, BrokerEngine Plus, as the primary broker software for AFG brokers. (However, BrokerEngine remains available to all brokers, supporting more than 3,000 users across the industry).
You can find out more about how BrokerEngine was started in the Elite Broker podcast episode with Craig Vaughan from 2020, here:
[Related: Major aggregator launches enhanced broker platform]
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