Nominating window closes on Friday, January 19
It’s one of the most hotly anticipated events in the Canadian mortgage industry calendar – and nominations for the prestigious Canadian Mortgage Awards, returning for an 18th year in 2024, are set to close this Friday (January 19).
Industry members have until then to get their nominations in for the glitzy ceremony, which recognizes the best and brightest of Canada’s mortgage space for their outstanding records of achievement over the prior 12 months.
Mortgage professionals from across Canada will converge on Toronto for an unforgettable evening of networking, reconnecting with familiar faces, and coming together to raise a glass to Excellence Awardees and award winners at the landmark event.
An unforgettable experience for winners and attendees alike
For Chris Grimes (pictured top), chief executive officer and co-founder at FundMore.ai – winners in the Best Service Provider category at the 2023 CMAs – coming away with an award was an experience neither he nor his team will forget in a hurry.
“We’ve been through a few of those before, and it was certainly nice to be recognized for some of the innovation that we’re doing in the industry,” he told Canadian Mortgage Professional. “I know it meant a lot to my team to have that recognition as well.”
Nominate today! The 2024 Canadian Mortgage Awards is looking to recognize the next National Broker Network of the Year!
— Canadian Mortgage Professional Magazine (@CMPmagazine) January 15, 2024
Nominate here: https://t.co/zOIwzZ5SO1#MortgageAwardsCA #MortgageBroker #BrokerNetwork #MortgageIndustry pic.twitter.com/brCwkXEA5b
Winning the award proved not just an affirmation of the company’s impressive progress to date, he said, but equally a valuable means of showcasing its work and enhancing its reputation within the industry.
“This maybe surprised me a little bit – some of the recognition that came afterwards,” Grimes said. “Others took notice of that, so it provided some nice marketing and some credibility in what we’re trying to accomplish. So it was a great experience on top of being recognized and winning.”
Industry’s leading figures compete for top prizes
Competition across the wide variety of categories is usually strong, with some of the industry’s best-known names in the brokering, lending and tech fields – to name but a few – vying for top prizes each year.
Grimes said it had been a “humbling” experience to be recognized as the 2023 winner in a field that included some of the industry’s foremost service providers, each of whom have been driving innovation forward in the mortgage space through their work.
For FundMore.ai, the company’s vision has been crucial to its success, according to Grimes, as well as its ability to forge partnerships and bring disparate groups together in pursuit of its goals.
Furthering and strengthening those partnerships will remain top of mind for the company looking to the year ahead, Grimes said, with AI innovation and continuing evolution of the end-to-end mortgage process some of the key trends for 2024.
With AI having witnessed an explosion of interest in recent times thanks to the advent of ChatGPT through OpenAI and Microsoft, Grimes said its potential for uptake in the mortgage industry was becoming more apparent.
“It really brought more people to the table that were maybe fearful of what it meant without fully understanding it, and I think being able to interact with AI in a simple dialogue and discussion has made it more accessible and understandable,” he said.
“I think that alone has allowed or encouraged people to want to embrace it, to improve operational efficiency. And I think you’re starting to see that. There’s willingness to take pilots on, there’s willingness to adopt certain solutions into institutions to ultimately get a better product or better service back to their consumer.”
A recognition of spectacular achievement in the mortgage space
With further growth earmarked for FundMore.ai in 2024, Grimes said winning the Best Service Provider award last year had been an experience that underscored the company’s growth to date and the sterling work of its staff.
“We were certainly appreciative of the opportunity to be nominated along with the people that were in it. Winning it really did mean a lot to our organization,” he said.
“Coming through starting up a business in technology is never easy and getting these recognitions, whether a win with a new customer or being recognized by the industry in some capacity, goes a long way into keeping people motivated. That was something that was important for us last year.”
Make sure to get your nominations in for the 2024 Canadian Mortgage Awards ahead of Friday’s deadline by clicking here.
