Founders of a new broker firm on the way the industry is changing
The next generation of women in the mortgage industry will not feel that they belong unless they can see women in leadership roles, suggests a co-founder of a new female-led broker firm.
Kim Balasubramaniam (pictured left), who has launched Versed Financial, with her business partner Katrina Horstead (pictured right), believes though that things are improving for women.
“When I came into this industry, it still felt very male-heavy, not necessarily on a day-to-day basis, but when you visited industry events,” Balasubramaniam told Mortgage Introducer. “I spoke at a couple of events over the last couple of years and the audience was still very male-heavy. But I do think that there are more females in leadership positions that seem to be more prominent now, which can only be a good thing.”
She added. “Ultimately, I think the next generation of women are not going to be able to feel like they belong somewhere, unless they see other women in those roles.”
Horstead agrees, and can recall how when she first worked in the industry, around 20 years ago, she was the only female broker in her office for years. There has been a shift and the gender balance is evening out, she acknowledges, but she indicates that there is still some way to go.
“I do think it is still is a male dominated industry – there’s no secret around that,” said Horstead. “What Kim and I are doing just shows that there is there is space for women in the industry, just as much as men, but that's not to say that we are here as two women stamping our feet saying, ‘we should be here and we've learned the right’ kind of thing.
“There's so much discussion about the difference between male and female and who's doing it better or not. Everyone's unique in their approach and it really doesn’t mater what they are – it’s about the outcome and the overall experience that the client has. We work with all types of clients – male and female, so from our perspective, there are no barriers at all. We welcome the fact that there are more women coming into the industry because why shouldn’t there be?”
READ MORE: International Women’s Day 2024: Taking stock of mortgage’s progress on equality
How it all began…
The business partners met while both working with The Mortgage Mum network, Balasubramaniam coming from her previous role as a wedding planner, and Horstead, from a career in the retail fashion industry. But there’s no scandalous Mortgage Mums On The Run story here - they parted on good terms when they left the business in August.
“We were quite unusual at The Mortgage Mum in that both of both myself and Katrina had been business owners before,” commented Balasubramaniam, “and it was a really good way of being kind of self-employed but still having that comfort blanket, of having a wider network of people there.
“I think both of us felt that, having been self-employed, ultimately that's what we wanted to do - we wanted to have our own business where we felt it was ours from inception, and we were in control of who we worked with and what it looked like and everything to do with running the business side of things, which we equally enjoy as we do being brokers. It was a natural progression.”
Versed Financial has launched as an appointed representative of Rosemount Financial Solutions (IFA). As the pair get into full stride with the business after a soft launch over the past few months, they’re hopeful of a less volatile market in which to establish the business.
“I do feel that things have calmed down a bit,” observed Horstead. “I'm hopeful that in 2025 we're in a place where we're not having so much volatility with the rate changes from lenders; that there is a point where the swap rates are slowing down and we're just getting a happy medium and people know what to expect - just to have a bit of stability would be amazing.”
Heading towards 2025, Balasubramaniam identifies greater market activity, with more clients having offers accepted on new property purchases, after a period where remortgages dominated.
“I think things will improve throughout the year, perhaps not as quickly as we might have thought, pre-Election,” she said. “But, yes, I think things are definitely on the right track. I'm optimistic.”
