Commercial lender opens Melbourne office

The move to establish a Victorian presence for its burgeoning business is a direct response to increasing commercial property activity and enquiry from the broker channel, in conjunction with the development of stronger associations with the major commercial brokers and aggregation groups in the state.

The Melbourne office will be headed up by Tony Zaccari, recruited specifically to lead and develop the new team in Victoria.

Mr Zaccari has over 20 years’ experience in financial services, with the last nine as a senior manager in business and commercial banking in the broker and acquisition team for one of the country’s leading banks.

“We have been planning the move into Victoria for some time, however, it was critical to us to identify the right person capable of genuinely looking after and enhancing our most valuable referrer relationships there,” Thinktank chief executive Jonathan Street said.

“We are very pleased to bring Tony on board, and look forward to investing in and developing the team around him as our presence grows,” he said.

Mr Zaccari will report directly to Thinktank’s head of sales and distribution, Peter Vala, who has overseen the lender’s growth nationally over the past two years.

“It is genuinely exciting to see the tremendous growth in the company and to now have a team on the ground in Victoria where there is so much potential. It allows us to build on the great relationships we have by looking after them on a more permanent basis,” Mr Vala said.

Thinktank’s ‘set and forget’ commercial property loans with up to 75 per cent LVR and 25-year terms have seen strong demand from small business owners, property investors and SMSFs.

Last July, the group securitised $113.6 million, the first domestic CMBS (commercial mortgage-backed security) issue in over seven years.

Thinktank confirmed its plans to return to the securitisation market later this year.