The aggregation group has begun onboarding brokers for its residential and commercial offering and appointed an industry veteran as its chairman.
Viking Aggregation, part of the Nationwise Group, has begun onboarding brokers to its long-awaited residential and commercial aggregation offering, building on its existing asset finance aggregation business.
First launched in November 2023 as an asset finance aggregator, Viking has been building out into residential and commercial aggregation, becoming the first new residential aggregation group in over 15 years (since outsource Financial launched).
Last year, Viking brought in industry veteran Clive Kirkpatrick (a former general manager of Vow Aggregation) as managing director of Viking Aggregation, overseeing both the residential and commercial arms.
Speaking to The Adviser, Kirkpatrick said the long-awaited launch comes after a series of delays, which were partly due to the fact that the market has not welcomed a new aggregation group (excluding any groups formed by mergers of existing aggregators) in over a decade.
Issues in setting up the new aggregation offering reportedly included delays with lender accreditations, the length of time needed to build a proprietary technology stack and commission portals, funding challenges, as well as changes in the senior leadership team.
However, he told The Adviser that these challenges have been overcome to deliver a “best-of-breed” aggregation offering.
Kirkpatrick said: “We are excited to get Viking to market.
“As the first new aggregator to market in around 15 years, we are ready to provide a different experience.”
Viking aims to onboard 600 brokers this year
The aggregator began onboarding waitlisted brokers to its commercial and residential arms in December 2025 and has now officially opened its doors to new brokers.
It expects to have 600 brokers onboarded across the residential and commercial offerings by the end of the year.
When combined with the existing asset finance aggregation arm, this would take the Viking Aggregation to around 1,000 brokers.
The new residential and commercial aggregation offerings are targeting three distinct broker segments:
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Commercial specialists with 5–15 years of experience, currently writing $50–250 million annually, who are “frustrated with limited lender panels and technology constraints”, and are seeking “expertise, efficiency and higher commission margins”.
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Diversifying residential brokers with three to 10 years of experience, writing $50–200 million annually, looking to expand into higher-margin commercial opportunities and needing training and support.
- “Banking refugees” with 10–25 years of commercial experience, such as those who have recently been made redundant or are seeking independence, with “strong technical skills but lacking broker business development” and needing operational support.
Kirkpatrick told The Adviser: “Viking looks to support aspirational brokers that are looking to expand their business across product streams.
“We have an incredible asset finance business that already supports almost 400 brokers.
“Additionally for those brokers who prefer to refer, our Loan Writing Solutions can help grow.”
The technology stack
Viking Aggregation’s technology is built around its proprietary core platform, Raven Central (named after the fact that, in Viking culture, the raven was considered a sign of good fortune if spotted on the battlefield), which has been developed in-house and acts as the central “umbrella” system across the business.
This includes a bespoke commercial platform known as Raven Commercial, which incorporates multiple AI engines that analyse financials, calculate ratios, interpret credit policy, and draft commercial loan submissions, significantly reducing manual work for brokers.
Raven Commercial is also currently integrating directly into lender systems to enable straight-through loan submission, with two large commercial lenders currently in pilot.
For Viking Residential, Viking has built its system on Salestrekker 2.0, while its asset finance arm utilises Financeable.
Kirkpatrick commented: “Raven is an incredible platform that is amazing to watch. We have had really good feedback from commercial lenders on it and it is changing the way commercial loans, in particular, are written.
“Raven Commercial has five different AI engines that run under it that compete against each other to ensure the broker gets the right answer. It can also start to learn what you want... So you put the financials in and it can actually write the submission for you. It does all your ratios. It is amazing to watch, and we think that, for good big commercial businesses, it will drive efficiency hugely, and remove a lot of time out of their business operations.
“Our AI tools driven by our own CARIE give commercial brokers a leading edge in efficient submissions.
“Our over umbrella platform, Raven, brings best of breed platforms, such as Salestrekker and Financeable, into the hands of the broker in one place.
“All this without paying away more of the broker income to the aggregator.”
The management team
There has been a string of changes at the top of Viking Aggregation.
Cath Ryan, the former general manager of Viking Commercial Aggregation, recently left to become head of sales and strategic partnerships at specialist non-bank lender Better Choice Home Loans, part of the BNK Banking Group. Her spouse, Rob Ryan, has also stepped down as Nationwise COO and company secretary for an undisclosed opportunity, while James Angus, the former GM of Viking Residential, took up a new role as the CEO of non-bank lender First Federal last year.
Kirkpatrick has been spearheading the group as managing director and revealed that several new appointments are set to join the group next month.
These include Stephen Moore, a former CEO of aggregation group Choice (now part of the LMG Group), who will join Viking Aggregation on 2 February as its executive chairman and take on some of the operational responsibilities.
Moore will bring his vast aggregation and lending experience to spearhead the recruitment drive for the aggregator.
A new head of distribution is also expected to join the group in due course.
The aggregator will also welcome Rohan Puls – the former business development manager (BDM) of Victorian Mortgage Group – to its ranks on 2 February.
Puls, who worked with Kirkpatrick during his time at Vow Financial, will become the regional manager for Victoria/Tasmania. He will work alongside the existing RMs, Terry Scott (Queensland), Patrick (Pat) Clarkson (NSW), and Corey Drew (South Australia).
[Related: Viking bolsters resi and commercial teams ahead of expansion]
