Top brokers revealed at Australian Broking Awards 2023

Mortgage Business sister brand The Adviser hosted the 13th annual Australian Broking Awards cocktail luncheon today (Friday, 11 August 2023) at The Star in Sydney, with support from principal partner NAB.

Over 600 members of the broking industry, dressed in their finest attire, attended the ceremony and cheered their peers while networking with industry leaders and colleagues.

A total of 30 winners (including Broker of the Year) were chosen out of 230 finalists, including brokers and brokerages, aggregators, loan administrators, mentors, thought leaders, and rising stars.

Australian writer, performer, and satirist Mark Humphries assumed emcee duties and provided light and laughter throughout the afternoon.

Brokers, loan administrators recognised

Chris Bates, the owner of mortgage broking business Blusk was named Australia’s Broker of the Year at the Australian Broking Awards 2023, after having won the Residential Broker of the Year award winner earlier in the day.

Mr Bates was recognised for his high volumes, strong customer service, and advocacy for and representation of the broader broking industry.

Simplicity Loans & Advisory managing director Jean-Pierre Gortan won the Commercial Broker of the Year award for his investigative approach to servicing the most complex situations and finding solutions for clients.

The new generation of brokers was championed, too, with Tiger Mortgage principal and mortgage broker Raymond Liao named New Broker of the Year, and Capta Financial founding director and senior mortgage broker Alvie Oliveira taking the Rising Star trophy.

The dedication of regional brokers was highlighted, with Panache Financial director Ashleigh Pakis named Regional Broker of the Year for offering stellar service to clients and building partnerships with the right people.

Yakka Finance managing director Scott Rumble won the Asset Finance Broker of the Year for the second year in a row, while director of The Finance Consultancy, Chris Slack, won the Finance Broker of the Year award.

Providing good customer service is critical to a broker’s success and this has been illustrated ably by Morgan Owen, the founder and director of Penny Finance, who was named the Customer Service of the Year – Individual award winner. She was particularly commended for achieving a high repeat business rate, systemising her checkpoints, and for engaging with a wider community by providing financial literacy education over social media.

The Loan Administrator of the Year award went to Gregory Hall, Action Finance Mortgage Solutions’ operations manager, for going above and beyond for his clients and business.

Mentors, thought leaders applauded for giving back

A broker’s success is underpinned by an effective mentor, something Mortgage Choice state manager Victoria/Tasmania and this year’s Mentor of the Year Margie Cannizzo knows all too well after successfully training and earning glowing testimonials from business and individual mentees.

The Industry Thought Leader of the Year award was given to Property Before Prada managing director and founder Katherine Persoglia for her genuine focus on empowering women and advocating equality.

This year’s Innovator of the Year is Mortgage Advice Bureau Sydney managing director Mark Kevin, who has quickly established himself as a leading broker by marrying the human element of broking and harnessing technology to streamline processes and deliver an outstanding client experience.

Anthony Wick – the partnership manager for Victoria at National Mortgage Brokers – was named Wellness Advocate of the Year for promoting wellness in the broker space (and further afield) and taking initiatives to improve personal development.

Acknowledging broking offices, aggregator groups

Aggregators and broking groups also shared the limelight for their achievements.

Australian Finance Group (AFG), steered by chief executive David Bailey, scored a hat-trick of three trophies, including Major Aggregator of the Year, Broker Marketing Platform of the Year, and Training and Education Program of the Year.

Mortgage Choice also had a successful night after it won the Major Franchise Brokerage of the Year and the Marketing Campaign of the Year awards.

Nectar Mortgages (headed by general manager Stephen Harris) closed out the aggregator awards after being named Boutique Aggregator of the Year.

Home Loan Experts emerged as this year’s Major Independent Brokerage of the Year and the growing group was praised for providing strong financial literacy education to clients, their strong customer service, and rapid expansion.

Sydney-based brokerage The Loan Suite Australia (guided by director Karlie Scharfenberg) was hailed as having the Independent Office of the Year while MoneyQuest Unley (led by director and franchisee Matt Thomas took home the trophy for Franchise Office of the Year.

Action Finance (led by owner Karen Hall) was named Regional Office of the Year with the Mount Pleasant-based business delighting its clients in the Mackay region of Queensland.

Cinch Loans (headed by founder and CEO Suvidh Arora) won the Diversified Brokerage of the Year award for implementing strong diversification strategies across his business, while Melbourne-based financial services firm Zella (helmed by founder and director Victoria Devine) won the New Office of the Year for aligning the founders’ values with delivering authentic service to clients.

Meanwhile, Loan Market One Network Broking – helmed by Nick Gurry – won the Customer Service of the Year – Office award for its efforts in supporting Australian borrowers efficiently and professionally.

Loan Market Greater Springfield (run by broker Mark Winter) secured the Community Engagement Program of the Year award for its work promoting men’s physical and mental health through Movember.

Tech providers in the spotlight

With technology being increasingly important in broking, several awards recognised the progress being made by groups in streamlining the broker process.

LMG (headed by executive chairman Sam White) won the CRM Platform of the Year award for its progressive approach to technology solutions and rolling out a range of new offerings to its newly merged group.

The final group award – Technology Service Provider of the Year – was given to financial management and data sharing app diñeiro for developing solutions quickly to assist the market.

Congratulations to all of this year’s winners!

To view the full list of winners and finalists, click here.

For more information about the Australian Broking Awards, click here.

[Related: Submissions open for Women in Finance Awards 2023]

Malavika Santhebennur is the features editor on the mortgages titles at Momentum Media.

Before joining the team in 2019, Malavika held roles with Money Management and Benchmark Media. She has been writing about financial services for the past six years.