Aggregator smashes settlement record by 10pc

The December result was also up 36 per cent on the previous year.

Chief executive Glenn Lees told The Adviser that the record was partly driven by an increase in Connective’s membership, with 536 brokers added during the 2014 calendar year.

However, it was also due to Connective’s existing brokers increasing their volumes, he added.

“It’s a more buoyant market, so there’s more business to be had,” Mr Lees said.

“We’ve also had fantastic uptake of a lot of our marketing services and what we see when that occurs is that our brokers get a material uplift in flow from that,” he said.

“It’s about marketing automation and the simple but sophisticated client contact tools that we offer.”

Connective won the marketing category at the 2014 Australian Broking Awards.

Mr Lees said brokers are becoming more receptive to diversification, as proven by the 122 per cent growth in Connective’s auto and asset financing platform, Connective Plant & Equipment.

Meanwhile, Connective’s big rival, AFG, reported $3.8 billion of mortgage sales – as opposed to settlements – in December 2014.

Mr Lees told The Adviser that Connective had made no secret of its desire to be the industry’s leading aggregator.

He said that fierce competition had forced aggregators to become more sophisticated, and that they would have to keep finding ways to add value to brokers’ businesses.

“Aggregators should be looking to the future on how they can help their brokers remain competitive in a world that is increasingly digitally driven, both in sourcing business and providing products,” he said.

“I think that’s the next big battlefield – it’s certainly where a lot of our attention is focused at the present.”

[Related: Steve Heavey joins Connective]