In celebration of International Women’s Day, we’re showcasing the leading female brokers in Australia, in partnership with Renown Lending.
This Sunday (8 March), people across the globe will celebrate the achievements of women and help raise awareness of gender-based discrimination as part of International Women’s Day (IWD).
While IWD has been celebrated for well over a century (with the first taking place in 1911), this year’s theme for IWD highlights the need for a system that is fair, inclusive, and accessible to all women and girls, under the theme ‘Give to Gain’ – asking businesses to think about what they are giving in order to help gain gender equality.
As part of The Adviser’s work in recognising women in finance, this year, we have unveiled our first ever Elite Broker Ranking: Women in Finance edition, partnered by non-bank lender Renown Lending.
The ranking celebrates and recognises excellence in the broking industry by honouring the top-performing female brokers across Australia (based on the financial year 2025 figures), who are still a minority.
According to the MFAA’s latest Industry Intelligence Service (IIS) report, around 26.8 per cent of brokers are women – a figure that has been relatively unchanged since 2018, despite several initiatives to tackle the under-representation of women in the broking industry and wider finance sector.
Similarly, the Finance Brokers Association of Australasia’s (FBAA) recently released Broker Density Report 2025, compiled by research house CoreData, found that around 30 per cent of Australian mortgage brokers were female or around 6,499 women. While this is an increase on previous years (the split was 72/28 male to female in 2024), the association has said that more could be done to profile the work of female brokers.
The Adviser’s Elite Broker Ranking – Women in Finance, partnered by Renown Lending, shines a spotlight on the top 25 female brokers by volume.
To ensure the integrity of the ranking, a robust methodology was employed. Undertaken by Agile Market Intelligence on behalf of The Adviser, brokers were invited to submit data regarding the number of loans settled over the financial year ending June 2025, the value of these loans, and the average size of loans written for the financial year ending June 2025.
Each broker was required to provide evidence supporting their submissions, which were meticulously verified.
The final ranking – published in the March 2026 edition of The Adviser magazine – was determined by ranking the brokers by largest settlement volumes in dollar terms.
Who was at the top?
Collectively, these top 25 brokers wrote an astounding $3.94 billion in loans in FY25. This reflects not only the growing value of mortgages being written in Australia, but also the increasing efficiency and market share held by women in the profession.
Across the ranking, the average number of settlements per broker was 222, with an average total volume of $157.7 million.
Topping the ranking this year was Hunter Valley-based broker Katie Thomas from Focus Finance, who wrote $496,454,238 in loans over FY25 across 280 settlements.
Her average loan size stands at a massive $1.77 million, underscoring her dominance in writing high-value residential and commercial loans (find out more about how she’s built her booming business in the Elite Broker profile here).
A special mention goes to the team at Focus Finance; alongside Thomas taking the top spot, her colleague Ashlee Sillay also secured seventh place, settling $182,789,016 across 214 loans.
In second place was commercial broker Isabella Constantinou from Simplicity Loans & Advisory, who settled $314,937,140. While her settlement count was lower at 40, her average loan size was a staggering $7.87 million, indicating a focus on higher-value commercial deals and complex high-value transactions.
Rounding out the top three was Deslie Taylor from Mortgage Choice in Ormeau. Taylor remains a powerhouse in volume, settling the most loans in the top 10, with 655 settlements totalling $309,844,253 and marks another year of exceptional consistency for the Queensland-based broker.
‘Women play in shaping a stronger, more progressive finance industry’
Speaking of the ranking, Mitchell Chadevski, general manager of Renown Lending, said: “At Renown Lending, we’re proud to partner with The Adviser’s Elite Broker Ranking for Women in Finance, as it recognises the exceptional talent and continually growing influence of female brokers across the industry.
“This ranking shines a well-deserved spotlight on women who are driving performance, leadership, and positive change within broking. Brokers are critical to our business; they are trusted advisers, advocates for borrowers, and specialists who navigate complexity to achieve the right outcomes for clients.
“Supporting this initiative reflects our respect for excellence and the vital role women play in shaping a stronger, more progressive finance industry.”
You can read more about the leading female brokers in Australia in the March edition of The Adviser magazine, out next week! (Not yet a Premium Member? You can sign up to a subscription to receive the magazine here.)
Want to connect with some of the leading women in finance face-to-face? Make sure you attend the Women in Finance Network Lunch 2026 and gain fresh leadership perspectives from keynote speaker Lucy Bloom, while building meaningful connections with forward-thinking peers in the financial sector.
The Women in Finance Network Lunch, run with the support of principal partner Renown Lending, will take place on Friday, 1 May 2026, at Doltone House, Jones Bay Wharf in Sydney. You can book your ticket for the lunch here.
[Related: Gender imbalance hindering progress in broking: Peter White]
