It's a drawcard for success, previous winners say
Time is running out to nominate leaders, colleagues and other professionals who are raising the bar for the mortgage and finance industry.
The 2023 Australian Mortgage Awards, featuring a black tie gala dinner, will be held at the Star Event Centre in Sydney on Friday, Oct. 13.
Nominations for the awards will close on Friday, June 30.
Mortgage brokers, brokerages, lenders, aggregators and BDMs are encouraged to nominate their peers who have shown excellence and can also self-nominate. Excellence may be evident in the areas of service delivery, innovation, professionalism and/or leadership.
ubank head of broker distribution George Srbinovski (pictured above left) said that being nominated for awards at this level encourages team members to perform at their best, motivating them to “continue innovating and enhancing the customer experience” year-round.
“I strongly recommend applying for these awards – they’re definitely worth the time and effort,” Srbinovski said.
ubank was crowned PropTrack Fintech Lender of the Year in 2022 and is one of the award sponsors for 2023.
Srbinovski said that winning the award last year was a “massive honour”, adding that it was the first award won by the company under the unified ubank brand, leaving the team “buzzing with excitement”.
“We worked incredibly hard to provide a different and unique process for the broker community, and this award underscored those efforts by validating the team’s hard work in making it happen,” Srbinovski said.
“The awards provide a great boost to staff members and are definitely worth the time investment.”
Roohi Kumar (pictured above right), BDM NSW/ACT at St.George Bank, was awarded the Best Non-Major Bank BDM Award in 2022.
Discussing the incentives for entering the awards and nominating peers, Kumar said that personal development and recognition were among the benefits.
“I believe the grass is greener where you water it, so if you have worked hard and achieve great outcomes, then everyone should know,” Kumar said. “It shows you are confident and respect the success and faith people have in you, as much as you have in other people.”
Describing how it felt to be among the award winners, Kumar said that the experience was “surreal”, and that winning such a prestigious award made it particularly special.
“I now feel even more motivated to give back to the amazing brokers who work relentlessly to make our customers’ dreams come true,” she said.
How winning an award supports business
Srbinovski said that winning an award enabled recipients to strengthen broker relationships and rise to the next level.
“Winning Fintech Lender of the Year in 2022 helped underscore our commitment to revitalising the broker experience and we’re incredibly thankful to the brokers who fully embraced such a young and unique brand,” Srbinovski said.
The awards drove brand awareness and increased team morale, he said.
“Since then, we’ve continued to work closely with brokers to provide them with the necessary tools and technologies to serve more customers and with the best possible experience,” Srbinovski said.
Since winning the Best Non-Major Bank BDM Award, Kumar said that she had received additional LinkedIn requests, enabling her to make connections with people who she may not otherwise have had the opportunity to meet.
“It has also led to brokers supporting me to be further recognised by Brokerpedia and Australian Broker as being in the top 1% nationally, or a 5-star BDM in 2023,” Kumar said.
The winners’ comments follow those of Pepper Money, which received the Non-Bank of the Year Award in 2022, and Daniel Green from Green Finance Group, and Loan Market national director Andrew Thompson, who said that the awards were a brilliant way to recognise people and companies who had delivered exceptional customer outcomes.
Organised by Key Media and supported by Mortgage Professional Australia and Australian Broker, the awards will again have the backing of event partner Westpac, along with NAB and PRPTY 360 as premium sponsors. Other sponsors include Adelaide Bank, ANZ, Commonwealth Bank (CBA), Equity-One, Bankwest, FBAA, Firstmac, Gateway Bank, La Trobe Financial, Liberty, MFAA, Mortgage Choice, OnDeck, Pepper Money, PropTrack, Q2, Rate Money, Resimac and ubank.
FINSTREET is the post-awards event sponsor, and PRPTY 360 is the champagne sponsor. Fifo Capital is sponsoring the photo booth and Maxiron Capital is the social media sponsor.
There are 25 award categories, plus the two major awards: Westpac Australian Broker of the Year and Liberty Australian Brokerage of the Year.
Nominations for the 2023 Australian Mortgage Awards close on June 30. Tickets are on sale now and are selling fast – they can be purchased from the Australian Mortgage Awards website.
Describing the atmosphere at the 2022 awards, Kumar said that there was lots of energy, fun and celebration in the air.
“Peoples’ reactions when they were acknowledged were phenomenal … everyone present was a star and it sure did feel like a starry night,” she said.
