It's rare the mortgage industry comes together – don't miss your chance
Celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, the National Association of Mortgage Brokers has emerged as a powerful voice for the US mortgage industry. Later this year, it will add to its major milestones as it hosts the 2023 World Summit – the first-ever assembly of mortgage industry professionals from around the world.
The international event will be staged at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas in early September. Linda McCoy (pictured), a member of the NAMB board and a past president, spoke with Mortgage Professional America to share insights on the upcoming gathering.
“I promise you it’s going to go in many different directions on all the things that we have been concerned about,” she said of the array of likely panel discussions ahead. She described the upcoming assembly as something of a NAMB on steroids. “What we do is share our ideas, give market tips to each other, identify trends. Regulatory matters are really big, and best practices. We really have been a hotline to the world.”
Summit has been in the works for some time
After increasing contact from counterparts all over the world, the idea for a global summit gradually emerged. “We’re excited about being able to come together and actually meet for the first time,” McCoy said. “We’ve been meeting on Zoom. Some of the members came to NAMB National in 2016, and that was the first that we heard on starting an international mortgage brokers federation.”
Australia, Canada take the lead in forming IMBF
Two years later, the International Mortgage Brokers Federation (IMBF) was jointly developed by the Finance Brokers Association of Australia (FBAA) and the Canadian Mortgage Brokers Association (CMBA). The gathering will reflect global diversity as more than 100 brokers and stakeholders from Australia, Canada, Ireland and other parts of the world will join their American counterparts to participate in workshops to discuss the major issues and challenges facing brokers around the world.
“We might have had the same thing happen here that just happened in Ireland, and we can discuss what we’re doing to resolve it,” McCoy said in providing a hypothetical example of a global summit talking point.
What happens in Vegas will be widely shared
As a NAMB board member since 2011 and president of the trade group from 2021-22, McCoy is well-equipped to now help organize the upcoming summit. She was also among the most prominent cheerleaders for a global meeting. “I finally said let’s just have it this year,” she said with palpable enthusiasm.
The chosen venue may illustrate the notion of American excess but subtly hints of potential riches in a land of opportunity. “That’s when we decided to bring it to Vegas,” McCoy said. “What a wonderful place to bring people from all these different countries to meet and resolve problems and help each other. I’m excited about it. What we’re trying to do is make it just like NAMB – you got a problem, let us help you fix it.”
But in a global sense, from an ‘it-takes-a-village’ sort of perspective. “We don’t want to keep it the best secret in the whole world, what we do,” McCoy said.
Need for a summit had been building up
Increasing contact over the years from counterparts elsewhere telegraphed the value of a global gathering, McCoy suggested. “One of our presidents, Rocke Andrews, went to Dubai because they wanted him to show them how we do mortgages. That was five or six years ago. And this year, we had Spain reach out. They want to know about our education, and have our education taught there. So these other countries look to the United States as the leader in the industry. And do we want to share? Yes! We want to share with the world. We’re happy to do that. I love the fact that we’re partnering with all these different countries.”
McCoy said a white paper is slated to be developed after the event for wider sharing. Registration for the Sept. 8 event includes both the summit and the NAMB conference. Registration details (including an early bird discount) are available on the NAMB website.
