Celebrating ANNIVERSARY Years

As the FBAA this year celebrates 30 years representing brokers, we look back on the key achievements and challenges from each decade. For the 10 years from 2003 to 2013, there were many changes for the broking industry, namely the industry’s significant growth as new brokers entered the market, the introduction of legislation to what was at the time a highlyunregulated industry, the FBAA cementing its position as the premier advocacy body for brokers, attracting sponsorship from lenders and even getting FBAA accreditation recognised by lenders, the dawn of the internet age and, of course, the GFC hit.

During this period, a regional broker by the name of Jan Kirstein joined the FBAA, and quickly became a key player in leading and shaping the association over the next 16 years.

In 1988, Jan Kirstein – with his family, wife Carol, and their two children – moved away from the instability and civic unrest of his native Zimbabwe to Australia with “nothing but four suitcases and $280 in my pocket”. Jan also brought with him his experience having worked his way up in building societies, and started from scratch in his new hometown, Cairns, far north Queensland.

“I got a job with ANZ, basically as a gopher doing relief work in all areas of banking,” recalls Jan. “I learnt the Aussie way of doing things, and was promoted to ANZ in Innisfail then manager in Townsville. I built up the branches, then about 1994 I moved to a credit union in Townsville as regional manager. It was a very political organisation, so in 1996 I left and worked as a broker for a Perth-based company wanting to expand their business here in Queensland.

“They had six lenders on their panel and every so often they’d phone and say ‘don’t use this one, we haven’t met the volume so we won’t get paid’. We were also giving away a fair bit of our commission, so there were definitely frustrations.”

Jan recognised the value a broker played in delivering customers options and best outcomes, and decided to create his own business. He set up Brokir Pty Ltd. in Townsville, aggregating with AFG, in a shared office with second-hand furnishings. From there, Jan set up his second business, the high-performing mortgage business, Green Light Home Loans.

“Our biggest challenge at that time was not getting customers to know about our business, but rather educating people to know what a broker was and that we provided choice.”

Jan exhibited at home shows, spent significant budget getting out to teach people and market broking as an industry. After the usual financial hurdles getting a business off the ground, Jan established his brand and grew to the point where Carol joined him as office manager to handle accounts and staff.

One consistent issue in those early years was issues with lenders. “The lenders would often ask ‘why aren’t you using us’. I remember one of the majors asked me and I laid it out for her; their processes made it difficult for us to do business with them – it was a cumbersome system reliant on mail, where other lenders would accept fax. This of course was before internet and emails, when we worked by phone and fax. To her credit, she changed the system so we could do business with that bank.”

Jan discovered firsthand that changing the industry relied on active brokers, just like him, identifying issues and straight-talking with decisionmakers to enact change.

“Being outside of a capital city, being remote, we had no access to training, the lenders didn’t come see us, it was difficult to be heard,” shares Jan. “What we needed was an association that was for brokers.”

In 2001, he joined an industry association and proposed and then established a sub-committee for Townsville. Unfortunately, he remained weighed down by the same issues. “I requested training for brokers in our region, and the guy told me ‘you’re a sub-committee, you’ve got no say, you’ll do as I tell you.’ At the time I’d never heard of FBAA, but I got wind they were visiting town so I organised a meeting.” From there, Jan’s entire sub-committee signed on as members to FBAA. That was in 2002.

“I didn’t realise when we joined that first association, that while it said it represented brokers it was actually sponsored and influenced by the big lenders ,” explains Jan. “These were the days you would open up the newspaper and there’d be a full-page ad by a major bank telling customers ‘do not use brokers’. Many lenders saw the broker industry as a risk to their business. In their eyes, brokers offered too much choice and were able to translate confusing jargon lenders liked to use to prevent easy comparison. We endured great anti-competition pressures.”

From 2002, Jan became FBAA’s north Queensland representative. By 2003 he stepped into the role of Director, then National President, and around 2005 he formed the association’s inaugural Board and was appointed Chair, a position he held for the most part until he retired November 2019. During that period, 2003 to 2013, Jan’s and his fellow board members’ work with the young association was entirely voluntary.

“We paid our own travel, we slept in really mothbeaten hotels, we did it all to advance the broking industry and protect competition for Australian brokers and most importantly loan customers. It was a struggle at times, I won’t lie,” confesses Jan. “We were a small association, but we had a clear mission and purpose. Many times, I was pressured by another association to merge. Many heated conversations were had. We even had someone infiltrate our Board,” shares Jan. “But, the FBAA was built for brokers by brokers, while the other association had banks pulling its strings – I did not believe merging was in the best interest for either brokers or customers.

“Can you imagine if brokers fell by the way, where the lenders would be? Brokers’ whole job is to lay it out and compare apples to apples, instead of confusing customers by comparing apples to oranges.”

A major challenge for FBAA was getting FBAAaccredited brokers recognised by some lenders. “The reason, of course, was the lenders wanted to steer brokers to the association they had influence in. Then, around 2007, ACCC was engaged in an official inquiry about something and FBAA made a submission which named a major lender as not acknowledging FBAA accreditation despite FBAA being a registered industry association,” recalls Jan. “That worked in our favour. There were potential anti- competition ramifcations and lenders took notice. Suddenly, all lenders accepted our accreditation and our members could write loans without having to join a second association. That was our turning point for growth.”

For the broking industry as a whole, the early 2000s was a period of growth. With this came the cowboys, brokers who entered the industry with no experience or interest in doing what’s best for customers, only there for the lure of money. “Our advocacy for brokers really ramped up over this period,” says Jan, “because we had next to no regulation and we needed to protect the integrity of our industry.”

FBAA meetings could get heated, and Jan says he ended up with a footy whistle to keep the Board in order. “There was a lot of passion and emotion in what we were building, everyone believed in what we were doing and everyone wanted their say. Trying to control that passion as Chair, was difficult at times.”

FBAA founding member Stan Millar was inaugural Board Secretary and held that position until he retired around 2015. “Those Board meetings could get quite interesting at times,” confirms Stan. “Thankfully Jan didn’t have to use his whistle all that much,” he laughs, “just the threat was enough.

“Obviously when you get people who are passionate about a subject, coming from disparate backgrounds and so forth, you get conflicts at times,” Stan continues. “There was never anything acrimonious about it, it was just discussions would get heated, then it was over, and we went back to getting on well.”

As well as instigating the development of a Board, under Jan’s leadership the FBAA overhauled the association’s management and brought in John Mulcair as financial manager and Peter White as managing director. Faced with individual states introducing template legislation, Jan and the FBAA recognised the need for legislation to be national. “Our strategy here was to really focus on advocacy, lobbying government and getting in the decisionmakers’ ears,” recalls Jan. “Peter took on this role; this was very much by design. And he was exceptionally good at it.” - Story continues pg 26

At Gateway we don’t believe that reducing your impact on the environment should cost you more. That’s why we’ve introduced two discounted Green Home Loans to reward your clients who have taken steps to reduce their home’s impact on the environment.

Our Green Plus Home Loan has been recognised by MOZO’s Expert Choice panel as Green Home Loan of the Year for 2022. The Green Plus Home Loan is designed to reward borrowers, who’s homes have been certified as 7 Stars or higher by NatHERS or the Residential Efficiency Scorecard, with a rate discount of at least 0.25% from our Premium Package 80% LVR product for the life of the loan.

Our Green Home Loan offers a rate discount of 0.15% for homes that have a Residential Efficiency Scorecard rating of 4 Stars up to a maximum 6 stars or have not been certified but contain a wide range of environmental and energy efficient features like solar panels or certified insulation and double glazed windows.

Additionally, these products come with a 100% offset account which can be accessed with Gateway’s Eco Visa Debit Card. The Eco Visa Debit Card is the first from an Australian bank and made from plant materials unlike traditional PVC cards, meaning it’s kinder on the environment and produces significantly less carbon in its production.

If your clients are looking for a Bank that will recognise and reward their efforts to reduce their impact on the environment talk to our Gateway Broker Team to find out how our offering can help them reduce the impact on both their pockets and the planet.

Also by design, was the FBAA’s global understanding of the broking industry. Leading up to the National Consumer Credit Protection (NCCP) Act, Jan and Peter flew to the UK with an industry forum and took the opportunity to meet with Ministers and department heads to understand the advice they were giving to Australia and ASIC. “It helped prepare our position as to why we can’t just base our laws off another country without understanding the nuances.”

This helped progress FBAA’s reputation as an association that knew its industry, understood what was happening around the world, and elevated its appeal as an advisor to decisionmakers. Since the early 2000s, FBAA has been involved in most key industry discussions relating to regulation and legislation, even often as the only representative industry voice.

“One of our biggest challenges was getting government to take notice of us,” recalls Stan. “They did though, that was a major achievement. That, and launching the FBAA’s first ever National Industry Conference in July 2012, in Sydney. The conference today is a major industry event with over 1000 attendees each year.”

Other challenges through the period included adjustment to the age of the internet as brokers and customers shifted from paper applications and faxes to internet and email. Also, the global financial crisis (GFC) which hit 2007-09.

“I believe the GFC actually led to many loan customers viewing banks as not always having their best interests in mind,” says Jan, “and that’s when brokers really got a foothold.”

Since then, FBAA’s influence and membership has grown in tandem. “Our membership grew organically, but we built momentum so the more we grew the quicker we grew,” offers Jan. “We were then able to bring in expert consultants to help us grow more strategically. It’s rewarding to watch the FBAA in its current growth phase, and where the association continues making headway for brokers. As an industry, we still have challenges ahead, but we have a strong association leading the way.”

For Jan, looking back on the FBAA’s second decade, 2003 to 2013, he describes it as “a time of growth, a time of trials and tribulation,” a tough 10 years, driven by purpose and passion.

“It wasn’t always an easy run,” he reflects. “There were times I would think, ‘What could I be doing better with my time?’ I almost gave it away a couple of times, but I’m stubborn. The fact is, I enjoyed the fellowship and I believed in FBAA’s purpose – I still do. I’m proud of what we’ve achieved.”

Imagine

a community where you are not only able to hear other perspectives but also understand them.

Welcome to The Artemis Space, an FBAA supported women’s community to discuss the issues, challenges and needs you have in our industry.

The Artemis Space has been aptly named after the Greek Goddess of nature, women and archery. It symbolises reaching an objective with the greatest speed, accuracy and focus. Its intention is to create a safe and supportive community where women/womxn can have open-minded, matter-of-fact discussions to understand what holds you back in order to pave the way forward.

Join us and the women professionals in our broader industry to transform constructive discussions into practical change, wholeheartedly supporting you to connect, grow and thrive with excellence.

If you would like to be a part of the conversation, we meet monthly for 1 to 2 hours by video conference. To engage with a variety of views, we will rotate the composition of the groups, creating an opportunity for you to meet other likeminded people.

NOW

...and be part of ‘paving the way’