Hundreds flock to sold-out event at Luna Park
Members of the mortgage and finance industry have taken the opportunity to network, learn and grow together, turning up in numbers at National Finance Brokers Day 2023.
The sold out one-day event, held on Wednesday at Sydney’s Luna Park, drew a crowd of 350 residential and commercial brokers, lenders, aggregators, buyers agents and other industry partners from across Australia.
The industry support for NFBD is increasing – attendance figures for NFBD 2023 were up by almost 60% on 2022, when about 220 people participated.
The conference was backed by 43 event partners, including Marketplace Finance and Clear Credit Solutions, peak bodies FBAA and CAFBA, aggregators LMG, AFG and outsource Financial, and lenders including CBA and Pepper Money. MPA was the media partner.
Dino Pacella, NFBD founder and head of third party relationships at Marketplace Finance, said he was thrilled with the growth of the event from 2022 to 2023, not just in terms of attendees, but also event partners, which had more than doubled in number since last year.
“It really goes to show that everybody comes together to build the awareness of the industry,” Pacella said. “That’s what NFBD is about, so I’m extremely proud of that.”
Pacella said he had received lots of positive feedback about the event and all the speakers had been fantastic.
Unity was the driving force and the foundation of the event’s growth, he said.
“The more people know about that, the more people want to come together and do good for the industry and see it grow,” Pacella said.
“Leave competition at the door … we’re all working for the betterment of the industry. With a clear and transparent message to the market, people are happy to come together as one and go ‘let’s promote it’.”
Brokers and other industry participants had flown in from all over Australia to attend NFBD, including Perth, Adelaide, Brisbane and Melbourne.
National Finance Brokers Day 2023 featured a wide variety of speakers and panel discussions, covering residential lending, commercial lending, recruitment, property market trends, financial abuse, podcasting, leadership, diversification and business growth, technology and mental wellbeing. Leading the event as MC was Nectar Mortgages head of distribution and growth Andrew Stevens.
The keynote speaker was Sam White, executive chairman of Australia’s biggest aggregator LMG. He provided some great insights, including how cashbacks, clawbacks and refinancing had effected the mortgage market and the need for brokers to not only source new clients and new sources of revenue by using referral partners but also the importance of looking after existing clients.
White also said he believed that broker market share in Australia would reach 80% to 85% in future and the greatest areas of growth would come from asset and commercial finance.
He touched on the opportunities for brokers that technology and open banking would provide and the threats posed by the NSW government’s attempts to impose payroll tax on aggregators.
Outsource Financial CEO Tanya Sale spoke about the challenges brokers and their clients had faced last year with rising interest rates and the impact these financial pressures had on some customers’ mental and physical wellbeing.
A residential lending panel discussion, The Rise of the Mortgage Market, was led by Pacella and featured broker Christian Stevens of Shore Financial, Pepper Money head of mortgages Siobhan Williams, broker coach Ruan Burger of Success and Broker and LMG national director growth Suzi Trajanovski.
A commercial lending panel discussion (pictured above) featured commercial brokers George Karam of BF Money and Isabella Constantinou of Simplicity Loans & Advisory, Matthew Johnson, the managing director of Simplicity Loans & Advisory, CAFBA president Matt Atkin and Judo Bank chief third party officer George Obeid.
Fariah Chowdhury and Tasnia Alam Hannan of the Arise Foundation spoke about financial abuse, while Domain chief of research and economics Dr Nicola Powell provided detailed data and insights on the property market.
Pacella said while the majority of brokers worked in the residential space, he had deliberately included a broad cross section of topics and speakers from across the industry, including commercial brokers, technology experts, economists and consumer insights, lead generation.
“The more diverse speakers you can include, the more value you can add,” he said. “That education piece really goes a long way.”
Looking ahead, Pacella said 2024 would mark the ninth annual National Finance Brokers Day and “we’re looking to amp this up to the next level”.
“The goal is to get around 500 attendees next year, a sold out-event and then get our event partners up to around 60.”
Pacella said there was even a possibility the NFBD might “go on the road” in 2025, for its 10th anniversary.
