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Dec 2025 - Jan 2026
Dec 2025 - Jan 2026
Thirty years ago, Sam Makhoul founded a law firm with two staff handling 300 settlements per month. Today, MSA National handles over 2,000 mortgage settlements daily and is the largest outsource settlements provider and material supplier to some of Australia’s largest financial institutions. MSA is also consistently ranked number one for service by mortgage broker groups. Yet, MSA’s real success goes far beyond the numbers
By blending legal expertise with tailored technology solutions, MSA has
In 2015, MSA launched its Digital Now strategy. “It was a was a deliberate transition away from being perceived as just a law firm. We’re really a mortgage documentation and settlement technology company that has the operational disciplines of a major bank,” says Sam Makhoul, MSA’s CEO.
MSA National’s technology development follows a simple principle: eliminate pain points and maintain a continuous feedback loop with mortgage brokers.
“We built our products because we have a continuous focus on eliminating pain points,” says Ayhan Baba, head of strategic partnerships. “If there is a pattern of pain points, then we ask the tech team, ‘How can we solve this?’”
Faster turnaround times are driven by speed to issue, speed to sign, and speed to comply. With MSA’s 90-second docs solution, loan documents are automatically issued to customers within 90 seconds of approval. Data shows that speed to issue drives speed to sign – these files settle, on average, 1.24 days sooner.
Using a combination of APIs and automation, MSA pre-populates text fields, which were traditionally inputted by customers. Many of these are automatically validated and have inbuilt instructions, reducing input errors and reworks.
Coupled with dynamic fields, customers only enter information not already held by MSA, reducing input errors. DigiDocs also includes direct upload functionality and tailored instructions for pre-settlement requirements, such as insurance, increasing speed to settle.
Importantly, MSA works closely with lenders to review, simplify, and digitise precedents. Using insights from lender call centres, MSA designs solutions that minimise customer calls and confusion, allowing them to sign with confidence. This speed to sign drives speed to settle and gives more time back to the broker.
MSA recognised early on the generational change in how people consume information. “We live in the YouTube generation where nobody reads anymore. So we developed a video solution to manage customer expectations and focus their attention on what they needed to do to get a quicker, pain-free settlement,” Sam Makhoul explains.
MyVideo highlights the most important features of each customer’s loan and eliminates over 40 per cent of calls and emails to brokers and lenders. This frees up advisers to focus on what they do best rather than answering routine questions. “We work closely with brokers and lenders to ensure all pain points for the customer are eliminated,” Sam Makhoul says.
For all its technological achievements, MSA National’s leadership consistently returns to human relationships as the company’s competitive advantage.
Katrina Makhoul, MSA National’s head of people and culture, has developed recruitment and cultural practices that prioritise empathy and humility over technical credentials.
The company’s approach to hiring reflects this priority. “Because I live and breathe the culture, I look at every subtle word an applicant says,” Katrina Makhoul explains. “Are they empathetic? Are they problem-solvers with the right mindset?
“I would say the MSA difference is our people. We’ve created a culture where staff want to help the customer, they want to connect with the brokers. They want to go the extra mile.”
Technical skills can be taught, but character cannot. “If they’re genuine, kind, humble, quick to understand – I know we can train them in the role,” she says. “But I can’t train humility. I can’t train empathy.”
MSA’s technology creates transparency that reduces anxiety. LoanTrak, the industry-standard tracking platform with over 15,000 active users, is a collaboration tool to give brokers the ability to chat with the file owner in real time, view documents, and upload documents. For customers, there is OnTrak, which provides real-time updates on loan progress. This has a eliminated a lot of calls to brokers and lenders.
MSA National’s latest technological development represents its most ambitious attempt to eliminate friction from mortgage settlements, by reducing approval to settlement time from over 20 days to under 10 days for a refinance.
This level of automation might seem to contradict the company’s emphasis on personal service, but Sam Makhoul sees it as enabling more meaningful human interaction. By handling routine tasks automatically, MSA’s staff can focus on problem solving and customer support where human judgement matters most.
This philosophy extends to settlement day itself. Linda Cooper, head of mortgage operations, emphasises: “Our goal is to have the least involvement needed from the borrower and the broker on the day of settlement. It should just happen – smoothly and without stress.”
Sam Makhoul’s philosophy guides MSA’s growth: “Complacency is the enemy of progress. With our exceptional team, we are committed to transforming the customer experience with passion. Every day, we strive to make mortgage settlements simpler for customers, ensuring lenders who partner with MSA National have happier brokers and happier customers.”
Tune in for more!
Hear more about how MSA National has transformed the loan documentation process in The Adviser’s In Focus podcast, ‘How MSA helped ING become the sixth-largest bank in 90 days’, here.
