Years of experience and relationship building with lenders has enabled the managing director of Quattro Finance to go from strength to strength
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A great example of growth through diversification is the managing director of Quattro Finance, Jason Arnold. Up one place compared to the list in 2017 and three places up from 2016, he has upped his average loan size considerably to claim a higher total value.
Running his business out of Melbourne, the majority of Arnold’s lending has focused on development finance, commercial property finance and structured finance transactions. But realising the need to offer a more comprehensive suite of funding options, Quattro incorporated home loans over the past two years, which has seen year on year growth. Not stopping there, the business is planning to add asset finance and small business lending within the next 12 to 18 months.
After 18 years in the industry Arnold has been able to build up great relationships with non-bank and private lenders, which has ensured minimal impact on his clients while the market has slowed. He says the major change for him over the past year has been “the decreased appetite and tightening of lending policies in the banking sector, particularly in the commercial and development finance space”.
As felt across most of the country, he has also seen significant policy change in the home loan space. “I’m fortunate that coming from a commercial background and a strong understanding of complex corporate and finance structures we have been able to adjust and educate our client base to ensure minimal impact on our home loans business.”
The major banks for Arnold still play a vital part in his business and he prides himself on offering a mix of banks with the non-banks and private funders. “We therefore have not had to shift too far away from those relationships,” he says. “Providing a variety of options to clients and reviewing each in detail assists us in our aim to deliver a great client outcome.”
Arnold cannot see banks widening up their credit appetite in the near future, but believes they are still there for the right transaction. For those transactions where the banks are not right, he urges caution when it comes to some of the newer non-bank and private lending options. “You do need to be careful to ensure they are a trustworthy source that ideally is fully funded and importantly can deliver.”
As someone who has made sure his business is diversified and adaptable, Arnold says other brokers will need to look to do the same but with the appropriate level of training and support from aggregator and lending partners.
“Without the appropriate level of training, support and experience the risk of a poor client outcome increases and this needs to be avoided,” he says. “As it stands, I believe the barrier to entry for the broking industry needs to be higher.”
Total value of commercial loan settlements: $160,597,930
Number of commercial loans settled: 45
Average commercial loan size: $2,369,842
Years as a commercial broker: 14
Aggregator: FAST
