The Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s head of third-party banking is to leave his role at the big four bank next week to become the new CEO of mortgage broking franchise Smartline.
The REA Group, which owns an 80.3 per cent stake in the franchise group, has announced the appointment of Sam Boer as CEO of Smartline, effective as of Monday, 14 August.
The former Smartline CEO, Ian Winn, left the brokerage franchise earlier this year. Jayson Billings, Smartline’s chief operating officer, has been in the role of caretaker CEO for the past few weeks.
Mr Boer joins Smartline from the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), where he serves as general manager, third-party banking.
He is to leave his role at the major bank next Friday, 3 August.
Adam Croucher, CBA’s state manager for Victoria and Tasmania, has become acting general manager of broker sales, effective immediately.
Commenting on Mr Boer’s appointment, REA Group executive general manager of financial services, Andrew Russell, said: “Sam brings a wealth of experience to this role and has a long history of leading high-performing teams to deliver value for customers.
“His recent experience at CBA and standing in the industry make him perfectly placed to lead Smartline into a new era of broking and finance.
“The Smartline business is an integral part of the REA Group and I look forward to working closely with Sam to drive our financial services strategy.”
Smartline executive director and co-founder Chris Acret said: “We’re delighted that Sam will be joining Smartline to lead the business into our next chapter of growth with REA.
“We’ve known Sam for a long time. He has strong industry experience and we are very comfortable that he will be a good fit for the business and our people.”
Commenting on his new role, Mr Boer said: “I have known and admired the Smartline team for many years and am delighted to have been selected to lead the business in its next exciting stage with [the] REA Group.
“I look forward to meeting up with the franchisees, staff and all other stakeholders that support this quality business and working with them to achieve further success in the years ahead.”
Mr Boer will join Smartline on Monday, 14 August, and will be based in the North Ryde office in Sydney.
CBA has not issued a comment about Mr Boer’s departure.
[Related: Property listings and mortgages]