MPA hears from managing director, Jai Martinkovits, on how his new brokerage Finance Ferret is doing things differently.
A NSW broker has recently rebranded his brokerage Breakthrough Brokers to Finance Ferret and it looks set to be a major industry disruptor. MPA talks to Finance Ferret managing director, Jai Martinkovits, on why the transformation goes much further than a rebrand.
MPA: What is different about Finance Ferret?
Jai Martinkovits: To appreciate the true potential of this start-up, you need to understand the “Sanctuary” which the Ferret lives in. The Sanctuary is a highly integrated technology platform which is launching later this year, offering customers a one-stop-shop for their finance requirements.
Think of Sanctuary as the Google of money. Just like you can use your single-sign-on (SSO) Google account to access Gmail, Google+, and other Google products, so too will our customers be able to use their Sanctuary SSO to access all of our integrated financial services. The industry is clamouring to diversify and this is the ultimate execution of that – a true game changer.
Joshua Geurts (right) and Jai Martinkovits (left)
Sanctuary’s flagship offering is its “Tax Squirrel” product, which is already providing customers with a practical set of tools they can use throughout the year to maximise their tax return and is quickly moving towards offering a full lodgement service.
Clearly there are compliance considerations which need to be satisfied, but Sanctuary offers significant value to both brokers and customers alike. From a brokers’ perspective, Sanctuary is a lead generation machine! We will be able to automatically mine Tax Squirrel data for all sorts of lending opportunities. Once you know someone’s income, expenses, assets and liabilities, it becomes very easy to produce a significant number of highly qualified leads. Sanctuary will allow us to scale in new ways.
MPA: How will it benefit the customer?
JM: From a customer’s perspective, the highly integrated nature of the platform will streamline the loan application process! Gone will be the days of frustratingly gathering documents for the broker. Customers will be able to interact seamlessly with the different verticals of the business.
MPA: What is Budget Beaver?
JM: The Budget Beaver is another animal which will live in the Sanctuary, assisting customers with the day-to-day management of their finances and budget. We have some really funky concepts and metrics we are building in which will be just as applicable to a student as to an established investor.
Incidentally and importantly, there will be another animal as part of our core offering – the Security Seal. This will be responsible for verifying the identity of customers within the Sanctuary.
MPA: How does your sub-aggregation model work?
JM: Finance Ferret has crafted a unique sub-aggregation model under Connective, which recently won the Best Mortgage Aggregator Award 2016, at the Australian Lending Awards.
Sub-aggregation allows us the flexibility of adding brokers under our brand, without the significant volume required upfront to maintain direct relationships with the banks. Connective’s commercial model works well for us and the decision was re-enforced by the overlap in our philosophies.
We expect brokers to stay with our brand long-term not only because we have one of the fairest agreements in the industry, which generously rewards them for their success, but because we are adding so much value that it would not make commercial sense for them to leave. And I believe that if a broker were to leave, it would be very difficult to replicate our business model.
Technology is one thing. But people deal with people. And it is for this reason that, although Finance Ferret is looking to expand its broker network, it is approaching this very cautiously. We are not offering a wholesale solution. As where groups like Connective will generally accept anyone who is prepared to pay their fees without any reputational risk, it is imperative that we consider how that broker will impact on our retail brand. Our customers have come to expect that their Finance Ferret broker will be knowledgeable, energetic and dynamic.
MPA: Who is your ideal broker?
JM: Our ideal broker has a fire in their belly, complemented by great relational abilities. Although knowledge is desirable, we very much hire for attitude, passion and inter-personal skills – we can teach them the rest. A large part of our recruitment drive going forward will be new-to-industry brokers. We will give an opportunity, along with the best broker-to-broker support model in the industry, to those brokers which we are prepared to back for success.
Joshua Geurts, who joined the Finance Ferret team last year, exemplifies these attributes. Largely owing to his unique skillset, Josh has been able to expand our referral network into the largely neglected building sector, including granny flat builders. And this is already paying dividends. Securing Josh was one of our biggest wins and I would certainly envisage him taking an increasingly strategic role in the future.
MPA: What does the road ahead look like for Finance Ferret?
JM: Over the coming year Finance Ferret will continue to increase its presence in Sydney, as well as to explore greater expansion across the country. Of course the goal is for the Finance Ferret brand to become ubiquitous. But our immediate focus will be on Melbourne and Brisbane, where we are experiencing increasing demand.
Finance Ferret will be launching its “Sanctuary” integration in the 2nd half of 2016. MPA will continue to follow the success of this brand as it unfolds.
MPA: What is different about Finance Ferret?
Jai Martinkovits: To appreciate the true potential of this start-up, you need to understand the “Sanctuary” which the Ferret lives in. The Sanctuary is a highly integrated technology platform which is launching later this year, offering customers a one-stop-shop for their finance requirements.
Think of Sanctuary as the Google of money. Just like you can use your single-sign-on (SSO) Google account to access Gmail, Google+, and other Google products, so too will our customers be able to use their Sanctuary SSO to access all of our integrated financial services. The industry is clamouring to diversify and this is the ultimate execution of that – a true game changer.
Joshua Geurts (right) and Jai Martinkovits (left)
Sanctuary’s flagship offering is its “Tax Squirrel” product, which is already providing customers with a practical set of tools they can use throughout the year to maximise their tax return and is quickly moving towards offering a full lodgement service.
Clearly there are compliance considerations which need to be satisfied, but Sanctuary offers significant value to both brokers and customers alike. From a brokers’ perspective, Sanctuary is a lead generation machine! We will be able to automatically mine Tax Squirrel data for all sorts of lending opportunities. Once you know someone’s income, expenses, assets and liabilities, it becomes very easy to produce a significant number of highly qualified leads. Sanctuary will allow us to scale in new ways.
MPA: How will it benefit the customer?
JM: From a customer’s perspective, the highly integrated nature of the platform will streamline the loan application process! Gone will be the days of frustratingly gathering documents for the broker. Customers will be able to interact seamlessly with the different verticals of the business.
MPA: What is Budget Beaver?
JM: The Budget Beaver is another animal which will live in the Sanctuary, assisting customers with the day-to-day management of their finances and budget. We have some really funky concepts and metrics we are building in which will be just as applicable to a student as to an established investor.
Incidentally and importantly, there will be another animal as part of our core offering – the Security Seal. This will be responsible for verifying the identity of customers within the Sanctuary.
MPA: How does your sub-aggregation model work?
JM: Finance Ferret has crafted a unique sub-aggregation model under Connective, which recently won the Best Mortgage Aggregator Award 2016, at the Australian Lending Awards.
Sub-aggregation allows us the flexibility of adding brokers under our brand, without the significant volume required upfront to maintain direct relationships with the banks. Connective’s commercial model works well for us and the decision was re-enforced by the overlap in our philosophies.
We expect brokers to stay with our brand long-term not only because we have one of the fairest agreements in the industry, which generously rewards them for their success, but because we are adding so much value that it would not make commercial sense for them to leave. And I believe that if a broker were to leave, it would be very difficult to replicate our business model.
Technology is one thing. But people deal with people. And it is for this reason that, although Finance Ferret is looking to expand its broker network, it is approaching this very cautiously. We are not offering a wholesale solution. As where groups like Connective will generally accept anyone who is prepared to pay their fees without any reputational risk, it is imperative that we consider how that broker will impact on our retail brand. Our customers have come to expect that their Finance Ferret broker will be knowledgeable, energetic and dynamic.
MPA: Who is your ideal broker?
JM: Our ideal broker has a fire in their belly, complemented by great relational abilities. Although knowledge is desirable, we very much hire for attitude, passion and inter-personal skills – we can teach them the rest. A large part of our recruitment drive going forward will be new-to-industry brokers. We will give an opportunity, along with the best broker-to-broker support model in the industry, to those brokers which we are prepared to back for success.
Joshua Geurts, who joined the Finance Ferret team last year, exemplifies these attributes. Largely owing to his unique skillset, Josh has been able to expand our referral network into the largely neglected building sector, including granny flat builders. And this is already paying dividends. Securing Josh was one of our biggest wins and I would certainly envisage him taking an increasingly strategic role in the future.
MPA: What does the road ahead look like for Finance Ferret?
JM: Over the coming year Finance Ferret will continue to increase its presence in Sydney, as well as to explore greater expansion across the country. Of course the goal is for the Finance Ferret brand to become ubiquitous. But our immediate focus will be on Melbourne and Brisbane, where we are experiencing increasing demand.
Finance Ferret will be launching its “Sanctuary” integration in the 2nd half of 2016. MPA will continue to follow the success of this brand as it unfolds.
