National group on target to add 100 brokers

Mortgage Choice launched a scheme in January called Plus One that provided incentives for franchisees to find new brokers.

The target was to recruit 50 Plus One brokers by the time the scheme ended on June 30 – and that number reached 53 as of yesterday, Mr Russell told The Adviser.

He added that Mortgage Choice wanted to recruit another 50 brokers through normal channels in the second half of 2014.

Mr Russell said that 20 of the 53 Plus One brokers had come from New South Wales and the ACT, 12 from Queensland, 10 from Victoria, eight from Western Australia and three from South Australia. All are expected to be operational by September 30, he added.

“The fact that we’ve achieved that target – it signals a very exciting time of growth for the business,” he said.

“We don’t believe the timing could be any sweeter given the continued resurgence in housing demand.”

Mr Russell said the Plus One incentive had been well-timed because many franchises had been “bursting at the seams” and had thought about adding another loan writer.

“We’ve got a good representation from people with banking and finance experience – and the balance might not have banking and finance experience, but they have exceptional customer service skills, which we value very highly,” he said.

Mr Russell told The Adviser that broking groups had a responsibility to identify and nurture new talent.

“Now we’re an established and recognised professional industry, it should be regarded as an attractive career path for young people and should be actively promoted as such,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mortgage Choice has announced that its financial planning arm has recruited its 30th adviser, putting it “well on track” to meet its target of 60 advisers by June 2015.

[Related: Mortgage Choice broker signs $60m deal]