Australia’s leading brokers honoured at ABAs 2019

Building on from the state-based Better Business Awards earlier this year, the national Australian Broking Awards recognises the leading brokers, brokerages, aggregation groups and staff that support them.

The winners for each of the 33 categories were announced at a five-star awards luncheon on Friday, 5 July, at The Star in Sydney. 

More than 700 industry professionals attended the event to find out who is leading the way in the Australian mortgage market.

Louisa Sanghera from Zippy Financial Group was named Broker of the Year 2019, with the St Leonards broker also taking home the individual award for Customer Service of the Year - Metropolitan.

Loan Market brokers came out strong at the awards. Warrnambool-based Loan Market broker Sam Arthurs took home the individual award for Customer Service of the Year - Regional, while Loan Market Geelong broker Sarah Thomson won the ABA for Regional Broker of the Year.

Elite broker Josh Bartlett of Loan Market Bayside was named Residential Broker of the Year once again. 

Rounding up the Loan Market awards on the day was Technology Platform of the Year, while the brokerage’s executive chairman, Sam White, was honoured for his thought leadership and advocacy of the third-party channel as he received the award for Industry Thought Leader of the Year.    

Mortgage Choice was also a multi-award winner on the night, as it won Major Brokerage of the Year - Franchise, as well as Marketing Campaign of the Year. The Arundel office, owned by Mortgage Choice broker Darren Comerford, completed the hat trick after winning the Australian Broking Award for Office of the Year - Franchise.

Victoria-based brokerage finweb Group was named Major Brokerage of the Year - Non-Franchise.

In the individual awards, Bella Vista-based broker Graeme Holm, of Infinity Group Finance, won two awards: aside from Finance Broker of the Year, he was also named as the leading broker to watch, clinching the title of Rising Star 2019.

Brendan Scotter of Commercial Point Finance was named Asset Finance Broker of the Year, while Grant Culshaw of Newcastle Commercial Finance is the Commercial Broker of the Year 2019.

New entrants to the industry were also celebrated on Friday afternoon, with Sydney-based Jinkai (Ryan) Zhang at Option Finance Australia named Newcomer of the Year - Metropolitan and Craig Mowbray of Warilla-based Be There Financial Services winning the accolade of Newcomer of the Year - Regional. 

Birdie Wealth in Miranda was named the New Office of the Year.

Mortgage broker and financial planner Nicholas Kakalis was the inaugural winner of the new award of Home Loan Protection Broker of the Year award, which recognises the broker that has a strong home loan protection offering and is best servicing the home loan protection needs of their clients. 

Those supporting brokers were also celebrated at the Sydney event, with Home Loan Connexion’s Lauren Conde taking home the trophy of Loan Administrator of the Year and Tracie Palmer of Cornerstone Mentoring being celebrated as Mentor of the Year.

In the group awards, aggregation company Connective won two awards, being named Aggregator of the Year once again, with an additional recognition for Training and Education Program of the Year.

Liberty Network Services won the award for Boutique Aggregator of the Year, while AFG received the Australian Broking Award for Broker Marketing Platform of the Year.                                     

Several brokerages were also recognised in the group awards, with Brisbane-based brokerage Time Home Loans and Victoria-based brokerage Resolve Finance winning the Customer Service of the Year awards, while Atelier Wealth was named Office of the Year - Non-Franchise (5 or less brokers) and Home Loan Experts took home the same award in the larger group category.

Meanwhile, Ulladulla-based brokerage South Coast Business & Financial Solutions won the Australian Broking Award for Regional Office of the Year.

Brokerages were also honoured for their work outside of mortgage writing, with Astute winning the award for Diversification Program of the Year, Empower Wealth Mortgage Advisory taking home the trophy for Innovator of the Year, while Nicole Cannon’s Pink Finance was the recipient of the Social and Community Service Program of the Year award.

Congratulations to all the winners of the Australian Broking Awards 2019!

Find out more about the awards program and view the full finalists and winners list at the dedicated Australian Broking Awards website.

[Related: Australian Broking Awards finalists 2019 revealed!]