AFG’s aggregation arm is sharpening its focus on tailored member support and technology “optionality” as it sets out its strategic priorities for the next phase of broker‑led growth.
Speaking to The Adviser, Australian Finance Group (AFG) general manager of aggregation, Christa Malkin, outlined the company’s key priorities moving forward, including reshaping its service model through the AFG pathways plan and expanding its technology stack.
With the industry grappling with a wave of AI-fuelled mortgage fraud cases, Malkin said AFG’s first priority was reinforcing the fundamentals it already had in place.
“It’s about doubling down on what we already do, which is really educating our members, we just did that as part of AFG Now, helping our members to understand what risks are out there and how they can mitigate some of those risks in terms of who they deal with,” she said.
She added that AFG wanted its network to extract more value from regulatory tools designed to prevent misconduct.
“It’s really around us all coming together to make sure that we are using some of the regulation that’s already there, such as the ASIC reference checking protocol,” Malkin outlined.
She noted that emerging fraud risks were being fuelled by increasingly sophisticated AI technology and that AFG was exploring how to integrate new detection tools as they evolved.
“We’re actively exploring how we use that at the moment in terms of detection – the lenders are still evolving what the tools that they’re using, and so are the aggregators,” she said.
“Whether in time we have broker facing tools that help brokers to detect at the point of dealing with customers, all of those things we can see that in the future.”
Pathways plan: No ‘one size fits all’
Malkin said AFG’s aggregation strategy was centred on tailoring support to the different businesses within its network, stressing that the group’s role was evolving on the ground as member needs changed.
“What we do as an aggregator and what we will continue to do is evolve on the ground in terms of how we deal with members, we have lots of different types of members within our network, and there is no one size fits all approach," she said.
She described the AFG pathways plan as the framework that underpinned that approach.
“Our AFG pathways plan is around supporting our members based on where they are and where they want to get to, so we’ll be doubling down on that,” Malkin said.
Malkin noted that many of AFG’s largest groups started as single‑broker practices and now faced very different challenges, outlining that initiatives like the Strategic Partners program provided them with access to higher‑level guidance and peer learning.
“That’s around those bigger picture business challenges and those challenges get bigger, and it’s really around making sure that we have peer learning and members learning from one another,” she said.
Yet she said AFG was careful not to overload smaller operators with big‑business content that did not apply to them.
“A solo operator, some of those things that we talk to larger members about, it’s just not relevant, so it’s about us adapting the service that we provide,” she explained.
Data, diversification, and the post‑settlement opportunity
Malkin said the group’s technology roadmap was geared towards helping members extend their value beyond initial settlements and build more resilient revenue lines.
“There are always going to be things that we continue to bring in to improve that tool, providing more data insights through our Analytics program, and then things like Partner Connect that allow our members to service their clients way beyond the home loan transaction,” Malkin said.
Asked about the sustainability of broker‑led growth in a softer housing market, Malkin said that brokers who remained close to clients and diversified their proposition were best placed to navigate a potential slowdown.
“It’s really about brokers doubling down on what they do best, which is supporting customers through these tougher times and tougher conversations, and adapting their own business as well to work with how the market is performing,” she said.
“If the market has a downturn, it’s a great time for brokers to look at their processes and systems to refine how they might be supporting the post-settlement journey of customers, and to look at diversification and other products and services that help to keep revenue protected during these times.”
Malkin said AFG expected more consolidation across the industry and was positioning itself to support members through that shift, including via its technology architecture.
“This links back into broker investments opportunity, and that consolidation that will inevitably happen in our industry. We are setting ourselves up to make sure that we can lean into some of those changes,” she said.
“To give you an example from a technology perspective, we have our core technology being BrokerEngine, but we’ve built out our API capabilities to make sure that members that want to adapt from a technology perspective, can still do so.”
[Related: Capita Finance announces new ownership, AFG takes minority stake]
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