“Larger brokerages in our industry play such a vital and important role in the strength and evolution of the broking industry”
BABER ZAKA,
COMMBANK
“If you focus on being a really good broker, having a high attention to detail and a robust process, growth takes care of itself ”
TOM HAWLEY, AZURA FINANCIAL
“We spend a lot of time nurturing the clients that we have, and when new clients come on, we treat them like family”
HUNG CHUY, STRATEGIC BROKERS
“The businesses that can grow the strongest will be those that can combine technology and scale with things technology cannot easily replicate, which are strategy, relationships and accountability”
Rachael Howlett, Infinity Group Australia
In Partnership with
Bigger brokerages chase growth without losing clients
Commonwealth Bank’s backing of the Brokerage of the Year award highlights why scale, culture and lasting relationships now define success for Australia’s larger broking firms
Read on
Industry experts
MORTGAGE BROKING has spent the past decade proving it can handle volume. The next test, according to the businesses shortlisted for the Brokerage of the Year (Over 20 Staff) category at the 2026 Australian Mortgage Awards, is proving the industry can handle everything that comes after settlement day.
Bigger books, bigger teams and bigger client bases are forcing the country’s largest broking groups to answer a harder question than how many loans they can write. It is whether they can keep clients close for decades, not just for one transaction, while managing offshore teams, automated systems and a workforce that has to stay motivated long after the sale is done.
The category, sponsored by Commonwealth Bank (CommBank), has become one of the more closely watched prizes on the awards calendar precisely because it sits at the pointy end of that shift. Winning it says less about who wrote the most loans last financial year and more about who is building a business capable of doing so sustainably, at scale, for years to come.
Bigger books, bigger teams and bigger client bases are forcing the country’s largest broking groups to answer a harder question than how many loans they can write. It is whether they can keep clients close for decades, not just for one transaction, while managing offshore teams, automated systems and a workforce that has to stay motivated long after the sale is done.
The category, sponsored by Commonwealth Bank (CommBank), has become one of the more closely watched prizes on the awards calendar precisely because it sits at the pointy end of that shift. Winning it says less about who wrote the most loans last financial year and more about who is building a business capable of doing so sustainably, at scale, for years to come.
Family values behind the balance sheet
Ask several of this year’s finalists how they built businesses large enough to qualify for the category, and the answer is rarely a growth strategy borrowed from a private equity playbook. Hung Chuy, founder and director of Strategic Brokers, put it down to treating the business like an extension of his own family.
“Most of the guys operate with us. They are friends, family or people who I’ve known since I was young. Our way of growing the business is not essentially trying to acquire everything out there and take every lead on,” said Chuy.
Fifteen years into his finance career, Chuy has never spent a dollar on paid marketing, relying instead on the sort of client education and retention that turns a transaction into a relationship.
“We spend a lot of time nurturing the clients that we have, and when new clients come on, we treat them like family. We think about them as lifetime clients rather than people who are just coming in for a transaction,” said Chuy.
Tom Hawley, co-founder and director of Azura Financial, described a similarly unhurried approach to expansion, arguing that chasing size for its own sake tends to backfire.
“If you focus on being a really good broker, having a high attention to detail and a robust process, growth takes care of itself,” said Hawley. His business has bought a handful of loan books in recent years and expects to keep doing so, but not at the expense of the team underneath it.
“We’re very big on sustainable growth, not trying to grow too quickly, but trying to make sure that we are constantly investing in our team, and the growth will take care of itself,” said Hawley.
A prize built on scale and responsibility
Baber Zaka, general manager of third-party banking at CommBank, said brokerages with more than 20 staff carry an outsized influence over where the broader channel is heading.
“Larger brokerages in our industry play such a vital and important role in the strength and evolution of the broking industry. These brokerages bring together people, expertise and experience that really helps drive the channel forward,” said Zaka.
That scale comes with obligations attached, according to Zaka, who pointed to the technology and process investment that only a business of a certain size can fund.
“The greater investment in technology, innovation and processes that are enabled by having such a large enterprise really shapes the future of where we can go as an industry,” said Zaka. Growth, he added, brings with it the responsibility of maintaining a strong culture and shaping how the industry works together going forward.
Consolidation and the case for bigger platforms
Not every finalist is betting on organic growth alone. Redom Syed, co-founder and managing director of Flint Group, sees a broking market heading towards consolidation and has built a business designed to give smaller operators somewhere to land.
“The mortgage market is changing quite rapidly over the next few years and consolidation is happening in the industry. We want to give brokers who are operating in silos or [have] small operations an opportunity to be part of a community that provides the backbone for them to level up,” said Syed.
“Over the last 18 months, we’ve built out a pretty strong engine room in Nepal with a 70-plus person office,” said Syed. Flint’s growth plan going forward, he explained, is a mix of mergers and acquisitions alongside recruiting brokers ready to take the next step, all built around fewer, better people rather than simply more of them.
Hawley agreed that scale and backing matter more than they once did for brokers weighing up their
options, particularly as technology reshapes what a solo operator can offer.
“It’s a lot harder these days to be a one-man-show broker out of your home or serviced office. To be part of a community and have a platform and a brand behind you is very valuable,” said Hawley.
Growth without losing the client relationship
For brokerages already operating at scale, the next stage of growth looks less like expansion and more like depth. Rachael Howlett, finance strategist team leader at Infinity Group, said her business is less focused on writing more loans than on extracting more value from every client relationship it already has.
“Pure volume growth will always matter, and mergers and acquisitions can accelerate that scale, but you can acquire a loan book without acquiring the loyalty behind those clients. The real opportunity is increasing client retention, engagement, referrals and lifetime value,” said Howlett.
Howlett’s business has built its offering around helping clients pay down their home loan within a decade, backed by a monthly relationship manager touchpoint, and she believes the broker’s job description is shifting as a result.
“The businesses that can grow the strongest will be those that can combine technology and scale with things technology cannot easily replicate, which are strategy, relationships and accountability,” said Howlett.
Jake Ziegler, head of investment lending at Freedom Investment Lending, described a comparable philosophy built around structure rather than simply asking brokers to write more loans.
“It has to start with people in the right roles, having a clear structure all the way from top to bottom. Our brokers have always been there to not just complete one transaction and move on from the client. They are there to manage their whole investment lending journey for the long term,” said Ziegler.
Freedom has invested heavily in systems and workflows across its Australian and offshore operations, according to Ziegler, but he is wary of leaning on technology alone.
“Systems are not going to take us that far, so culture is really one of the most important parts we are focusing on this year. We have a clear expectation across the business that you leave your ego at the door and put your hand up when you need help,” said Ziegler.
Todd O’Reilly, CEO and founding partner of MedX Finance, took a different route to scale, building a brokerage around a single specialisation before broadening out. Having grown quickly by recruiting brokers out of the banking sector, O’Reilly said the medical lending niche that built the business will not be the one that carries it to the next level.
“The medical market is fantastic, but it’s a relatively small market. Our next step will probably be diversifying outside of medical into different niches where we can potentially replicate that model,” said O’Reilly.
Damian Brander, managing director of the Australian Lending & Investment Centre (ALIC), has taken specialisation further still, building a business around investment lending strategy over 17 years and three offshore centres in Manila, Malaysia and Nepal.
“We’ve always prided ourselves on being quite the subject matter expert in terms of investment lending structures and strategies. That has been the backbone of our business as we’ve built up over 36,000 clients,” said Brander.
Brander credits that focus with an unusually high proportion of repeat and referred business, at a time when he believes the case for specialist investment lending support has rarely been stronger.
“Eighty per cent of all our business comes from an existing customer or a referral from an existing customer, particularly at a time when the investment landscape has been thrown up in the air by recent federal budget and tax law changes,” said Brander.
Ingraining brokers into the whole homeownership journey
The one-and-done transaction is dead, and every finalist in this category has had to work out what replaces it, especially once a client has moved into a second, third or fourth property and expects the same level of attention each time.
Ziegler said the answer starts with how you define the broker’s role in the first place.
“We call our brokers investment lending managers. They are not there to just help arrange a loan and move on. When we are helping someone buy their first investment, we are already thinking several steps ahead, about what decision we make today and how that affects their ability to keep purchasing in the future,” said Ziegler.
At CommBank, we’re focused on giving our brokers more confidence and delivering an exceptional experience for them and their customers. We are doing this by being reliable, transparent, accessible and adaptable. Our strategy has been designed based on broker feedback and focuses on how we can improve the experience and build a strong and more sustainable third-party banking channel.
If you’re not already accredited with CommBank, now is a great time to join us as we’ve simplified our accreditation process. Head to www.commbank.com.au/home-loans/broker-accreditation.html and find out more.
If you’re already accredited with CommBank, check out our 24/7 training hub – it’s all part of our commitment to give you more confidence to build your business and deliver an exceptional homebuying experience to customers.
Find out more
Originally from the UK, Baber Zaka brings over 20 years of experience in financial services. He began his career in investment banking before moving into financial analysis and mergers and acquisitions with a leading consulting firm and then into banking roles. After relocating to Australia, Zaka joined Commonwealth Bank (CommBank), where he has spent the past 11 years. For almost six years, he worked in the third-party channel, leading distribution strategy and partnerships, before becoming chief operating officer in 2023 and general manager in 2025. Zaka is passionate about broking as a relationship-led industry, focused on building trust, consistency and positive customer outcomes.
CommBank
Baber Zaka
Damian Brander is managing director of the Australian Lending & Investment Centre (ALIC), one of Australia’s leading specialist investment lending brokerages. With 25 years of finance experience, Brander is recognised for his strategic approach to residential investment lending, debt structuring and client education. He is passionate about raising professional standards across the broking industry through technology, training, ethical advice and scalable support models. He also leads innovation initiatives, including Lolli, ALIC’s AI-enabled broker efficiency and client engagement platform, and Outsourced Experts, ALIC’s offshore support business. His focus is helping clients, brokers and teams achieve better long-term lending and wealth outcomes.
ALIC
Damian Brander
Hung Chuy is founder and director of Strategic Brokers and a highly qualified mortgage adviser. His expertise covers all aspects of lending for a diverse range of applications.
Strategic Brokers
Hung Chuy
Tom Hawley is co‑founder and director of Azura Financial, one of Australia’s top‑ranked brokerages. Beginning his career in stockbroking and funds management, he moved into mortgage broking to deliver more direct client impact. Hawley combines deep market knowledge with a “six‑star” service ethos, focusing on strategic debt advice for homeowners and investors. Under his leadership, Azura Financial has grown into a multi‑award‑winning, high‑performing brokerage.
Azura Financial
Tom Hawley
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Published 28 Sep 2026
Jake Ziegler
Freedom Investment Lending
Redom Syed
Flint Group
Todd O’Reilly
MedX Finance
Rachael Howlett
Infinity Group Australia
Tom Hawley
Azura Financial
Hung Chuy
Strategic Brokers
Damian Brander
ALIC
Baber Zaka
CommBank
As Freedom Investment Lending’s head of investment lending, Jake Ziegler oversees the company’s growth and operations and leads a team of more than 20 investment lending managers, assisted by over 50 additional support staff. After joining Freedom as a broker more than five years ago, he progressed through the business to become a senior investment lending manager before stepping into his current leadership role. Ziegler is responsible for the day-to-day leadership of the business, overseeing multiple departments, driving performance across the organisation and ensuring exceptional outcomes for both clients and the business.
Freedom Investment Lending
Jake Ziegler
Redom Syed is co-founder and managing director of Flint Group and a 2025 FBAA Broker of the Year. A former Federal Treasury economist, Syed has built his career at the intersection of economics, property and lending. He has settled more than $1 billion in loans and has been recognised among MPA’s Top 100 Brokers seven times. Syed is also the host of Australian Property Talk, where he shares insights on property, economics and lending. Today, he leads Flint’s ambitious growth strategy, with a vision to build Australia’s leading independent mortgage brokerage and reshape how Australians experience mortgage advice.
Flint Group
Redom Syed
Todd O’Reilly is CEO and founding partner of MedX Finance. Drawing on 18 years in commercial finance and 14 years serving the medical sector, he has led MedX Finance’s growth around a clear purpose: helping medical professionals make confident financial decisions. Under his leadership, the business combines deep sector knowledge, customised lending strategies and industry relationships to support clients across property, practice and vehicle finance. O’Reilly is passionate about building capable teams, creating client value and raising the bar for his team and business.
MedX Finance
Todd O'Reilly
Rachael Howlett is a finance strategist team leader at Infinity Group Australia, based on the Gold Coast, and one of the nation’s most trusted and respected mortgage professionals. Recognised as one of Australia’s Regional Brokers of the Year, she has built a career defined by integrity, empathy and a commitment to helping everyday Australians achieve lasting financial freedom. Howlett works closely with clients to reduce debt, improve cash flow and build long-term wealth through clear and structured strategies, translating complex financial concepts into practical, actionable advice. From first-home buyers to families restructuring debt, she brings clarity, accountability and genuine care.
Infinity Group Australia
Rachael Howlett
Number of staff, business structure and key metrics for the past 12 months
Settled loan volume for the past two financial years and drivers of year-over-year change
Lead generation strategies and how they have evolved
Client retention rate and retention strategy
Business-wide application-to-settlement conversion rate
Customer service proposition and how it is measured
Value proposition to brokers and other key stakeholders
Broker training and professional development investment
Source: MPA
Brokerage of the Year (Over 20 Staff)
Relevant factors for AMA winner selection
Source: CommBank
access to
on-demand
broker training, live training and workshops
24/7
relationship managers and broker support specialists nationwide
Dedicated
accredited brokers across Australia
15,000+
years of serving Australian customers
110+
home lender in Australia
Largest
CommBank by the numbers
“Our brokers have always been there to not just complete one transaction and move on from the client. They are there to manage their whole investment lending journey for the long term”
JAKE ZIEGLER, FREEDOM INVESTMENT LENDING
Client education, Ziegler noted, is where most of that long-term trust gets built or lost, particularly when a client compares a recommended loan structure against something cheaper they have found online.
“Our job is not to just tell them what we’re recommending. We’re explaining why we need to recommend it, what other alternatives there could be and how each option is going to affect their broader strategy,” said Ziegler.
Howlett sees the relationship in similar terms, arguing that settlement should mark the start of a client relationship rather than its conclusion.
“Settlement should not be the end of a relationship with a client. It should almost be the beginning. A client’s financial position is constantly changing, and so is the market and the economy,” said Howlett.
The broker’s edge, in Howlett’s view, is no longer the information itself, given how easily clients can now find rates and calculators online.
“Clients do not necessarily need us to tell them what the interest rate is. They need us to help them understand what all this information actually means for them. The future broker becomes less of a loan facilitator and much more of a long-term financial strategist around debt and property,” said Howlett.
O’Reilly said MedX’s roots in commercial and asset finance, which still make up roughly half its business, have shaped its approach to long-term client contact.
“We’ve always prided ourselves on being quite the subject matter expert in terms of investment lending structures and strategies. That has been the backbone of our business”
DAMIAN BRANDER, ALIC
“A lot of our brokers around the country have had 15-, 20-, 25-year relationships in some cases with their clients, and they have just followed them from lender to lender over the years. It has never really been one and done for us,” said O’Reilly.
For Brander, the long-term relationship comes down to a business model built without conflicts of interest, something he said clients can tell the difference between.
“We do not take any kickbacks. We do not take any in-house relationships. We are strategic in just structuring the lending. It’s all about bringing the right business partners around that client to ethically enable that wealth creation journey,” said Brander.
“A lot of our brokers around the country have had 15-, 20-, 25-year relationships in some cases with their clients … It has never really been one and done for us”
Todd O’Reilly, MedX Finance
Hawley said the hardest part of that shift has been resisting the temptation to position brokers as financial planners, a line he is careful not to cross.
“We’re not financial planners. You have got to be careful there. We’re here to provide options and make sure you have a great lending partner for the long term, one that ensures your loans stay competitive and that you are with the right lender,” said Hawley.
Data, technology and the phone call that still works
Behind the client-facing relationship sits a less glamorous fight over data, and Syed said Flint’s biggest investment over the past six months has had nothing to do with client acquisition.
“One of the challenges mortgage broking businesses have had is that information on the customer often sits in different locations, particularly with aggregator systems involved. What Flint has been doing is centralising the data we have from an individual customer for their entire loan journey into one location,” said Syed.
It’s clear that the range of approaches on display among this year’s finalists, from family-run brokerages to offshore-backed platforms, bodes well for where the channel is headed.
“The answers that these great brokerages have given have really given me confidence in the future of the industry going forward. I love the fact that everyone brought it back to customers and relationships, because that is what this business is about,” said Zaka.
Whichever business the judges settle on, the contest has already made one thing obvious. Being one of Australia’s largest brokerages no longer means simply moving the most loan volume through the system. It means proving that scale, culture and client loyalty can grow together rather than at each other’s expense, a balancing act that will only get harder as the businesses in contention keep getting bigger.
That centralisation, Syed argued, is the only way brokers can compete once clients can access pricing and servicing information themselves.
“The world is changing where information is free now. If we can give customers live, up-to-date data on their own situation through their loan journey, it allows us to play that role as a trusted adviser and be almost in constant communication with them,” said Syed.
Chuy is taking a similar approach with artificial intelligence, using it to strip administrative work away from brokers rather than to replace the conversations they have with clients.
“We are obviously ingraining AI into our business, doing things to systemise and automate as much as we
can to give the brokers the opportunity to spend more time with their clients,” said Chuy.
For all that automation, Chuy said the moment that actually cements a client relationship is often the least technical one in the entire process.
“We can give you all of the data sets and everything, but they might not understand it. Sometimes, it comes down to a simple phone call. That simple five-, 10-, 20-minute phone call essentially makes a world of difference,” said Chuy.
“We want to give brokers who are operating in silos or [have] small operations an opportunity to be part of a community that provides the backbone for them to level up”
Redom Syed, Flint Group