"It's allowed us to do what we're actually supposed to be doing"
It’s been a tough twelve months for the mortgage adviser community, but the sector has thrived with the support of colleagues, leaders and broker groups – and celebrating its successes is Astute Financial, which recently revealed the results of its Virtual Awards 2021.
The highly anticipated Mortgage Adviser of the Year award was taken by David Windler, director of The Mortgage Supply Co. The brokerage enjoyed a hugely successful night, taking home the Business Diversification Award of the Year, as well as the Business Leadership award for Windler and business partner David Hart.
Commenting on the win, Windler said that having Astute Financial’s support throughout the last year has been invaluable, and achieving personal recognition has been a great boost of morale for the brokerage after a difficult year.
“We’ve always been well supported in the Astute group environment, and it’s been great to receive that individual recognition,” Windler said.
“It was also fantastic to receive recognition for the business as a whole, with various members of the team receiving awards for business diversification, growth and leadership. Overall, it’s been a really successful event for our entire organisation.”
“I think every adviser you speak to would say that it’s been a very tough couple of years,” he said.
““All of our advisers have been kept busy with compliance and regulation, and on a personal front, people are all still tolerating living in a COVID environment. It’s also an incredibly tough credit environment right now, but we’re always making sure that we keep each other positive and still striving to do the right thing for our clients.”
Despite the difficult year, The Mortgage Supply Co has seen strong growth in its insurance offering, particularly in the risk space. Windler said that having an insurance arm has been a great support to the firm’s mortgage brokers, and its importance has been reflected in the firm’s win of the Business Diversification Award of the Year.
“It’s not always easy to get insurance sorted if a property has any unusual aspects to it, and if you can’t get full cover on the property, then you won’t get the mortgage,” Windler said.
“Our insurance arm has been a great help to our advisers, and it really rounds the business out. It’s also great for the clients, because it takes things off their plate and we’re not leaving them to go and sort their own insurance. It’s a real increase to our service proposition, and it’s one that we’re getting great feedback about.”
Looking forward, Windler said it is likely that mortgage advisers will be operating in a difficult environment for some time yet. However, the development of a strong company culture, and the support of Astute Financial have both set the business in good stead for the future.
“I think most advisers would confess that they’ve been operating under some mental health pressure, and one thing we’ve managed to do in the business is provide consistent support,” Windler said.
“Our culture is extremely strong, and that really keeps everyone together and rowing the boat in the same direction.”
“That’s also where being part of a group like Astute has been really important for us,” he added.
“The leadership that Sarah has demonstrated on the compliance side of things has taken a whole heap off our plate, and we’re really appreciative of that. It’s allowed us to actually do what we’re supposed to be doing, which is to write business for our clients and make sure they’re being taken care of.”
