Mortgage Choice enters new era

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As Anthony Waldron takes the helm of REA Group’s Financial Services division, including Mortgage Choice, he speaks about his priorities in the role, the opportunities ahead, and the challenges facing the industry

IN EARLY JUNE, REA Group appointed Anthony Waldron as CEO Financial Services and CEO Mortgage Choice – announced as part of several structural changes at the property giant. Why does this role make sense for you now? I’ve worked in financial services for most of my career and spent many years at NAB – the last seven of these running the full spectrum of NAB’s broker business and in a chief operating officer-style role within NAB’s personal banking division. From 2017 to 2020 I was the inaugural chair of the Combined Industry Forum, helping to lead the industry’s response to the 2016 ASIC Review of Mortgage Broker Remuneration and the royal commission, holding discussions with the federal government and regulators around the implementation of the best interests duty and lobbying for maintaining broker commission models. I’m passionate about the mortgage broking industry, and I’m thrilled to be working with a company like Mortgage Choice – truly one of the pioneers in the industry. It’s also incredible to have the opportunity to lead REA’s Financial Services business. REA has a fantastic culture, and in Financial Services we have some of the country’s brightest minds solving the challenge of integrating property and finance.

For 30 years Mortgage Choice has been at the forefront of Australia’s mortgage broking industry, and under the ownership of global property technology business REA Group, this doesn’t change. Following the merger with Smartline late last year, Mortgage Choice now has a network of close to 1,000 brokers and more than 750 franchises nationally and remains one of Australia’s most trusted and recognised brands. Mortgage Choice builds successful businesses that set the benchmark for advice, customer care and removing complexity from the home loan process.

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“When consumers choose Mortgage Choice, they’re choosing a broker who is more invested in their success than their money”

Anthony Waldron, Mortgage Choice

It’s been a big 12 months for Mortgage Choice, with its acquisition by REA Group and integration with Smartline. What are your priorities for the business? My focus for Mortgage Choice will remain on five core priorities. Firstly, I’m a big believer in the service profit chain maxim "happy people = happy customers = happy shareholders". So, priority number one is getting things right for our internal teams so they can get things right for our franchisees. The remaining four priorities – in no particular order – are maintaining the fantastic momentum of our franchise network; completing the transition of our Smartline franchisees onto the Mortgage Choice brand and systems by the end of the year; continuing to invest in our brand and

“We’re uniquely positioned to make it easy for consumers to find the right property as well as the loan that’s right for them”

Anthony Waldron, Mortgage Choice

marketing; and connecting more of the realestate.com.au audience with our network of mortgage brokers. Can you elaborate on the potential of connecting the realestate.com.au audience with the broker network? Around 60% of Australia’s adult population visit realestate.com.au every month – and for most people, buying property also means finding finance. Yet these searches are often managed completely separately. We’re looking to connect those experiences and to help consumers move seamlessly between their search for property and their search for finance. With our network of around 1,000 brokers around the country, as well as our digital home loan capability in partnership with Ubank, we’re uniquely positioned to make it easy for consumers to find the right property as well as the loan that’s right for them.

What does REA’s focus on digital lending mean for Mortgage Choice? We don’t think about them as different things. One supports the other. Our experience has been that customers don’t start by thinking about the channel they want to get their loan from. They just start looking, and generally that starts online. The latest data from the MFAA shows that almost 70% of new residential lending was done through the broker channel. That means most consumers move online to brokers at some point, but that leaves 30% of borrowers who go direct to their bank or through digital channels for their home loan needs. We want to support consumers however they choose to get their

finance, and we want to create the biggest audience of property and finance seekers we can. We think that way everyone wins. The Mortgage Choice brand has been hard to miss in recent weeks. What’s the strategy behind your new marketing campaign? Mortgage Choice is one of Australia’s most trusted and recognised broker brands, with over 95% brand confidence among consumers. As part of the integration project, we’ve developed a new brand strategy for Mortgage Choice that reflects our new, combined broker network and the value we offer. This new campaign introduces that refreshed brand to the market in a high-impact way, re-energising the brand in the eyes of consumers. It was also important to us that our Smartline franchisees who migrated their businesses to Mortgage Choice were buoyed by coming into a brand that was top of mind for Australians – a brand that looks to the future but recognises the heritage of both Smartline and Mortgage Choice. The refreshed brand is supported by our new tagline ‘You’re never a loan’, which is all about demonstrating that when consumers choose Mortgage Choice, they’re choosing a broker who is more invested in their success than their money. It’s fantastic to see our brand in market in such a high-profile way, backed by the one-on-one support of our dedicated Franchise Marketing team, who are working flat out to ensure our franchises are leveraging the refreshed brand. What do you see as the biggest issues facing the industry? Where we are in the interest rate cycle is one of the biggest issues. Since May, we’ve seen the RBA raise the cash rate significantly, with a high probability rates will continue to rise. Many borrowers have never seen interest rates rise – and, for that matter, nor have many brokers. While a rising-rate environment presents a range of challenges for brokers – especially combined with the high inflation we’re seeing and stagnant wage growth – I think it’s also a time of huge opportunity to position brokers as trusted advisers. Brokers who double down on communication with clients right now will benefit as they pick up business from customers looking to refinance, especially as fixed-term loans expire. Another big challenge for the industry is recruitment. As more Australians choose mortgage brokers to find the right loan, our franchises need to meet this increased demand. Many franchises are hiring more staff, and the challenge is to find quality candidates with the right skills and who are aligned to our values and culture. Our support teams are working closely with our franchisees to help recruit high-quality loan writers and admin staff, and to ensure new recruits receive the best training and support to quickly get them up to speed.

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“When consumers choose Mortgage Choice, they’re choosing a broker who is more invested in their success than their money”

“We’re uniquely positioned to make it easy for consumers to find the right property as well as the loan that’s right for them”

“When consumers choose Mortgage Choice, they’re choosing a broker who is more invested in their success than their money”

“We’re uniquely positioned to make it easy for consumers to find the right property as well as the loan that’s right for them”

From left: George Boustani, Mortgage Choice Penshurst; Leah Nugent, Smartline Hills District; Anthony Waldron, Mortgage Choice; Jane Vaughan, Mortgage Choice Haberfield

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