Former FAST CEO joins CitoPlus board

Mr Wright was the CEO of the aggregation group between 2011 and 2021 and joined CitoPlus as a non-executive director in June 2022.

The digital platform, which was specifically designed for commercial brokers and their customers, launched into market in April 2022. It automates the collection and structuring of customer information ahead of loan submission and can be integrated into a lender’s system to enable lodgements.

Speaking to The Adviser about the appointment, Graham Strain, CEO and co-founder of CitoPlus, said: “We’re excited to welcome Brendan Wright to the CitoPlus board and are grateful for his commitment to helping us scale…

“Our board has a deep and broad mix of skills and experience in the financial services, technology and broker industry, which reflects a commitment to ensuring we have the right board in place to guide CitoPlus’ strategy and oversee its ambitious goals to help brokers, aggregators and lenders unlock more lending to SME businesses.

“As a highly respected leader in the commercial broker and financial services industry, [Mr Wright] brings valuable experience that enhances the breadth and diversity of skills on the board. 

“We look forward to benefiting from his expertise, insights and real interest in helping create a market-leading digital platform for brokers that digitises commercial lending.”

Mr Wright said he was “delighted to have been able to join the CitoPlus board”, adding that the company was “filling a clear gap in the market”.

“It is wonderful to be working with founders and fellow board members who have deep expertise and experience across financial services, technology, and business,” he told The Adviser.

“This is an exciting opportunity to contribute my experience in business growth, governance, regulation, business models and strategic execution in creating an industry-leading enterprise.

“CitoPlus is enabling finance brokers, aggregators, banks & lenders to back more Australian businesses with their growth ambitions, with a data and digitally enabled secure platform that delivers the full suite of business lending products.

“It is very rewarding for me that this commitment is supporting an industry of significant importance to the financial services market, businesses, and our economy more broadly.”

CitoPlus announced its first lender integration earlier this year, as it partnered with business lender TP24 to provide brokers with a “streamlined pathway to yes”.

The integrated experience went live to commercial brokers using TP24’s non-amortising lines of credits in November.

The tech platform’s two co-founders, Mr Strain and Richard Winkett, said that the platform “delivers a more efficient process for commercial brokers” by automatically pulling data to assist in structuring a deal, providing an indicative approval, and enabling brokers to submit a deal directly to TP24 via the portal.

[Related: CitoPlus integrates with 1st lender partner]