CEO Peter Andronicos talks to MPA’s editor about changing more than a company name.
Firstfolio is not a name that inspires confidence within the industry. But new CEO Peter Andronicos wants more than a name change – he wants to rebuild the company and put technological innovation at its centre, he tells Sam Richardson.
MPA: You took the CEO position at a time of turbulence for Firstfolio – how do you plan to bring the company into stability and profit in 2015?
Peter Andronicos: I think we’ve already started doing that with the business and you’ve seen that in a number of different articles and ASX announcements. The first step was putting the right people in the right positions, and alongside that, in terms of importance, was communication. Communication with both our clients, the brokers, and communication with our shareholders in the market. And I think we’ve made a good start with that since October. At the end of the day we have a lot of work to do, but it’s not going to be quite as difficult as the market perceives because there are a lot of assets and a lot of phenomenal people in this company who have been waiting for the stability to launch this business back to where it should be.
MPA: So will we see an end to the ‘growth through acquisition’ strategy?
PA: There are no acquisitions that are on the radar for this business; we have enough assets that can turn this business into one of Australia’s leading mortgage broking businesses. There is nothing else that this company needs to be successful.
We have a very successful wholesale business which has a lending platform that we believe is one of the market’s leading platforms – it is a wholesale product platform called LSA, an end-to-end process management system for wholesale loans. That asset really supports our strategy moving forward to develop niche products and service our brokers with niche products.
The eChoice business was obviously an acquisition as well, and that platform we’ve done a lot of work on over the last few years, but the basic principles of that business are what my background has been in: lead acquisition; management; lead allocation, but then, more importantly, process management and loan management for our brokers through the aggregation channel.
MPA: Does the proposed change of name from Firstfolio to eChoice imply that eChoice is now the centre of the company?
PA: The eChoice brand has been around for 10 years. It would be smart of our business to leverage the assets that possess the most strength within our business. Now that brand has strength, it has most market penetration, it is recognised and it is valued by the market. So the strategy there is that no one associates with Firstfolio. The only person who associates with Firstfolio is the shareholder. But for the shareholders to benefit we need to build our brand around what the market, the clients and our shareholders can associate with, and that is a market-leading brand like eChoice.
That decision, though, is not my decision to make; that does need to go to shareholders for approval, and it’s something we’re hoping to get approved by the end of March, so that needs to be voted upon by shareholders. But we have had great support after we mentioned it at our AGM, and the shareholders have already spoken to us about their support for that.
MPA: So you’re not worried that people will see the change in name as a sign of instability?
PA: I don’t know how people would be able to get that connection, because the reality for us is the eChoice brand is supported by the most important people, our clients. And the brokers in our network support our brand … [Currently] there is confusion. Who is Firstfolio; what do we do? [The name change] clears the name for our business, and it makes it very simple: we provide eChoice. eChoice is a service provider to our brokers and our network, but is also a brand that can go directly to the consumer.
MPA: Are online lead-generation partnerships, such as that announced with Domain.com.au, the new direction for eChoice?
PA: Partners are an important part of our business model, and we will seize opportunity when there is opportunity. There was opportunity there, where they needed a solution; they wanted to add value to their customer base and bring in new revenue. And it benefited us because we wanted more leads. Are we 100% reliant on a partner? No, we’d never put ourselves in that position. It’s a solution.
We get approached continuously by publishers [with suggestions] around trying to develop new revenue streams from them. We are lucky in eChoice that we are not restricted to home loans; we can use the concierge-style approach for anything from car loans [to] insurance products and electricity products, services that are related to home and finance. And that’s been enabled by the technology we’ve got.
MPA: Are there any particular niche markets you’re interested in?
PA: I believe in the future and I believe this industry needs to do more for the future. In the last six months you’ve heard people talking about graduate programs; we have a huge emphasis on building and developing brokers to enter this industry. To do that these brokers need clients, and they need long-term clients; first home buyers fit with that strategy. If you have a first home buyer and a new broker and you connect the two together, and they use our concierge services over a five-year period, that’s a client for life. They become a refinancer; they buy again; they become an investor … the strategy fits for growth, long-term growth and retention.
MPA: How can your broker management system FLeaTS Online help brokers?
PA: Our job is about empowering brokers to settle more and do more with the time. FLeaTS Online is a tool for our brokers to access loan matching, their client base, their lead management, their client management, their performance, their invoicing, all the way through to almost everything. [Loan] submission is the next path for us. We are all about allowing our brokers to access the data about their client when they want it and how they want it.
[This is what a new-to-industry broker] expects, being the one that uses Facebook, Twitter, Instagram; he’s expecting to sit with someone at the coffee shop or at the park and do a loan match and a management of their accounts on their mobile phone or iPad. It’s empowering brokers to access their data about their client when they want it and how they want it ... if they don’t want to use it that’s fine, but it’s available to them. But it’s not something just for the young; it’s for people who expect to manage their business how they want to manage it.
To come back to the question of what we are and what we do, this is one of a whole host of brand changes in terms of our culture. Our business is around passion, innovation and experts; the people, the partners, the process which will deliver the product. At the end of the day that’s our philosophy, and it’s around one team and one target. This business for too long was around one business or the other business. [Recent appointments] were about getting the right people in the right roles, which will drive one team, one culture and one target.
MPA: Where would you like Firstfolio to be at the start of 2016?
PA: In 12 months from now we will have a platform and a structure and a level of stability which will allow this business to achieve its aggressive growth strategy. We are already in a position now where we are exceeding our expectations in terms of structure, stability, market commentary, market support, improvement and other bits and pieces, so we hope that by this time next year we’ll probably be way ahead of our targets, based on the position we are in today.
MPA: You took the CEO position at a time of turbulence for Firstfolio – how do you plan to bring the company into stability and profit in 2015?
Peter Andronicos: I think we’ve already started doing that with the business and you’ve seen that in a number of different articles and ASX announcements. The first step was putting the right people in the right positions, and alongside that, in terms of importance, was communication. Communication with both our clients, the brokers, and communication with our shareholders in the market. And I think we’ve made a good start with that since October. At the end of the day we have a lot of work to do, but it’s not going to be quite as difficult as the market perceives because there are a lot of assets and a lot of phenomenal people in this company who have been waiting for the stability to launch this business back to where it should be.
MPA: So will we see an end to the ‘growth through acquisition’ strategy?
PA: There are no acquisitions that are on the radar for this business; we have enough assets that can turn this business into one of Australia’s leading mortgage broking businesses. There is nothing else that this company needs to be successful.
We have a very successful wholesale business which has a lending platform that we believe is one of the market’s leading platforms – it is a wholesale product platform called LSA, an end-to-end process management system for wholesale loans. That asset really supports our strategy moving forward to develop niche products and service our brokers with niche products.
The eChoice business was obviously an acquisition as well, and that platform we’ve done a lot of work on over the last few years, but the basic principles of that business are what my background has been in: lead acquisition; management; lead allocation, but then, more importantly, process management and loan management for our brokers through the aggregation channel.
MPA: Does the proposed change of name from Firstfolio to eChoice imply that eChoice is now the centre of the company?
PA: The eChoice brand has been around for 10 years. It would be smart of our business to leverage the assets that possess the most strength within our business. Now that brand has strength, it has most market penetration, it is recognised and it is valued by the market. So the strategy there is that no one associates with Firstfolio. The only person who associates with Firstfolio is the shareholder. But for the shareholders to benefit we need to build our brand around what the market, the clients and our shareholders can associate with, and that is a market-leading brand like eChoice.
That decision, though, is not my decision to make; that does need to go to shareholders for approval, and it’s something we’re hoping to get approved by the end of March, so that needs to be voted upon by shareholders. But we have had great support after we mentioned it at our AGM, and the shareholders have already spoken to us about their support for that.
MPA: So you’re not worried that people will see the change in name as a sign of instability?
PA: I don’t know how people would be able to get that connection, because the reality for us is the eChoice brand is supported by the most important people, our clients. And the brokers in our network support our brand … [Currently] there is confusion. Who is Firstfolio; what do we do? [The name change] clears the name for our business, and it makes it very simple: we provide eChoice. eChoice is a service provider to our brokers and our network, but is also a brand that can go directly to the consumer.
MPA: Are online lead-generation partnerships, such as that announced with Domain.com.au, the new direction for eChoice?
PA: Partners are an important part of our business model, and we will seize opportunity when there is opportunity. There was opportunity there, where they needed a solution; they wanted to add value to their customer base and bring in new revenue. And it benefited us because we wanted more leads. Are we 100% reliant on a partner? No, we’d never put ourselves in that position. It’s a solution.
We get approached continuously by publishers [with suggestions] around trying to develop new revenue streams from them. We are lucky in eChoice that we are not restricted to home loans; we can use the concierge-style approach for anything from car loans [to] insurance products and electricity products, services that are related to home and finance. And that’s been enabled by the technology we’ve got.
MPA: Are there any particular niche markets you’re interested in?
PA: I believe in the future and I believe this industry needs to do more for the future. In the last six months you’ve heard people talking about graduate programs; we have a huge emphasis on building and developing brokers to enter this industry. To do that these brokers need clients, and they need long-term clients; first home buyers fit with that strategy. If you have a first home buyer and a new broker and you connect the two together, and they use our concierge services over a five-year period, that’s a client for life. They become a refinancer; they buy again; they become an investor … the strategy fits for growth, long-term growth and retention.
MPA: How can your broker management system FLeaTS Online help brokers?
PA: Our job is about empowering brokers to settle more and do more with the time. FLeaTS Online is a tool for our brokers to access loan matching, their client base, their lead management, their client management, their performance, their invoicing, all the way through to almost everything. [Loan] submission is the next path for us. We are all about allowing our brokers to access the data about their client when they want it and how they want it.
[This is what a new-to-industry broker] expects, being the one that uses Facebook, Twitter, Instagram; he’s expecting to sit with someone at the coffee shop or at the park and do a loan match and a management of their accounts on their mobile phone or iPad. It’s empowering brokers to access their data about their client when they want it and how they want it ... if they don’t want to use it that’s fine, but it’s available to them. But it’s not something just for the young; it’s for people who expect to manage their business how they want to manage it.
To come back to the question of what we are and what we do, this is one of a whole host of brand changes in terms of our culture. Our business is around passion, innovation and experts; the people, the partners, the process which will deliver the product. At the end of the day that’s our philosophy, and it’s around one team and one target. This business for too long was around one business or the other business. [Recent appointments] were about getting the right people in the right roles, which will drive one team, one culture and one target.
MPA: Where would you like Firstfolio to be at the start of 2016?
PA: In 12 months from now we will have a platform and a structure and a level of stability which will allow this business to achieve its aggressive growth strategy. We are already in a position now where we are exceeding our expectations in terms of structure, stability, market commentary, market support, improvement and other bits and pieces, so we hope that by this time next year we’ll probably be way ahead of our targets, based on the position we are in today.
