Impressed by calibre of entries on industry's night of nights
This year’s Australian Mortgage Awards was a huge success with a record 713 guests in attendance and positive feedback from the industry.
The 2023 AMAs featured 24 judges, who were impressed with the extremely high calibre of the awards nominees.
Held in person for only the second time since the pandemic, the black-tie event attracted guests from all over Australia who gathered at the Sydney’s Star Event Centre to acknowledge the best mortgage and finance industry performers for 2023.
There were 27 award categories, and two national awards presented on the night, and after the formalities attendees partied well into the early hours.
One of the judges, Specialist Finance Group general manager Blake Buchanan (pictured above left) said having judged the AMAs for eight years, the standard of all finalists’ entries got better every year.
He said the awards had multiple benefits for all involved and provided recognition of the industry’s hard work and accomplishments.
“Building your profile, for any business, is very important and entering these awards is a great way to have your business recognised and promote your services to your networks and prospective clients,” Buchanan said.
Q2 managing director of APAC Ali Khan, who was also one of the 2023 AMAs judges, said by evaluating and acknowledging outstanding achievements, “these awards encourage professionals to strive for higher standards and continuous improvement”.
“Judging these awards provides an opportunity for software partners such as Q2 to assess and compare different trends in the market related to mortgage products, services, and companies,” Khan said.
“Furthermore, award programs often involve rigorous criteria and expert panels, ensuring that the winners are truly deserving of recognition.
“This adds credibility and prestige to the recipients, enhancing their reputation and standing within the industry, and for Q2 it is important to be part of that as we feel it promotes healthy competition, encourages innovation, and ultimately benefits both industry professionals and consumers alike.”
Prime Capital CEO Steve Sampson (pictured above right) said the entries this year were of extremely high quality in their content and presentation.
“That makes the judging job rather difficult because of the consistent standard of quality,” Sampson said. “The AMAs are recognised as a premium awards event in the mortgage industry so to be a finalist you have to be of a particular high quality.”
“Recognition by the AMAs is discerning to their customers and industry colleagues that can give a tremendous lift to their business.”
Key Media organised the awards, with support from Mortgage Professional Australia and Australian Broker.
MPA and Key Media would like to thank all the 2023 AMAs judges for generously contributing their time and expertise to evaluate all the nominations and choose the winners.
The judges of this year’s awards were:
- Matthew Atkin, president, Commercial & Asset Finance Brokers Association of Australia (CAFBA)
- Cory Bannister, senior vice president, chief lending officer, La Trobe Financial.
- Renee Blethyn, head of broker partnerships, NextGen.
- Tim Brown, head of wholesale distribution, BC Invest
- Blake Buchanan, general manager, Specialist Finance Group.
- Graham Cooke, head of consumer research, Finder
- Ryan Gair, CEO, Rate Money
- Ali Khan, managing director APAC, Q2
- Frank Knez, CEO, National Property Group
- Domenic Lo Surdo, group executive chairman, Stamford Capital
- Anja Pannek, CEO, Mortgage & Finance Association of Australia (MFAA)
- Chris Paterson, general manager distribution, Resimac
- Ian Rakhit, general manager third party personal and third party banking, Bankwest
- Lee Rudwick, performance lead - home loans, ANZ
- Tanya Sale, CEO, outsource Financial
- Steve Sampson, chief commercial officer, Prime Capital
- Louisa Sanghera, managing director, Zippy Financial Group
- Barry Saoud, general manager mortgages and commercial lending, Pepper Money
- Joseph Trimarchi, solicitor, Joseph Trimarchi & Associates
- Alf Vasta, business development manager, Liberty
- Peter White, managing director, Finance Brokers Association of Australia (FBAA)
- Sharon Yardley, head of operations, risk and compliance, Heartland Finance
- Angel Zhong, deputy head of department - finance associate professor of finance, RMIT University
- Jeff Zulman, managing director, TrailBlazers Finance
The Australian Mortgage Awards 2023 would not have been possible without the support of sponsors and Westpac was this year’s event partner.
NAB and PRPTY 360 were premium partners, FINSTREET was the VIP post-awards event sponsor, and Fifo Capital was the photo booth sponsor. Maxiron Capital was the social media sponsor.
Other sponsors included: Adelaide Bank, ANZ, Bankwest, Bluestone Home Loans, Commonwealth Bank, Equity-One, FBAA, Firstmac, Gateway Bank, Hays, La Trobe Financial, LBH, Liberty, MFAA, Mortgage Choice, Mortgage Street, OnDeck, Pepper Money, PropTrack, Q2, Rate Money, Resimac, and ubank.
The full list of 2023 Australian Mortgage Award winners can be found here.
Did you enjoy the AMAs? Share your thoughts below:
