Image: Bankwest's 2025 Broker of the Year State Awards in Sydney. From left, Ian Rakhit, Bankwest general manager of the third party, with the 2025 NSW Bankwest Broker of the Year Award Harry Tsouskas, senior lending advisor at Lending Association. Also in the photo Lisa Daff, Bankwest NSW state manager; and Jason Chan, Bankwest managing director.
Harry Tsouskas was in good spirits Thursday night as he walked away with Bankwest's coveted 2025 NSW Broker of the Year Award.
"I don't know why I won," Tsouskas told Australian Broker. "I guess because I'm passionate about finance and I'm passionate about helping people."
The highly sought-after award is bestowed upon Australia's finest brokers. Bankwest, which is the digital banking division of Commonwealth Bank (CBA), selects the best and brightest from its pool of accredited brokers in New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia each year, celebrating each locally with an awards ceremony.
Sydney-based Tsouskas rolled into the Botanical Gardens in Sydney Thursday with more than two decades of experience under his belt, including stints at Westpac and Macquarie Funds Group, in addition to his current gig as senior lending adviser at Lending Association.
Australian Broker caught up with the seasoned broker to find out more about his secret sauce, what makes him stand out and how he envisions the year ahead panning out.
The following interview has been edited for grammar and clarity.
AB: Why do you think you won?
Tsouskas: I'm passionate about finance and I'm passionate about helping people. I keep things very simple. I try to humanize the experience [for borrowers]. I don't go for the sale. My last goal is for the sale. I always go for the client's needs and see what they want. They might be at an existing bank and they might not be getting the services they want. But that's not entirely bad. It doesn't mean, as the broker, we need to refinance to make a commission. As the broker, you've got to understand their needs, and that [the lender] might be wrong for them. So I try and grow that human element. I think about income last. I just keep it simple and put that human element into it. If That's not the reason why I won, then I don't know.
I've been with Lending Association for nearly seven years. And when I first started, I didn't have much of a client base to work with. But over the years, you, as a broker, grow organically: a lot of repeat customers and word of mouth and a bit of marketing approach.
ABW: What tips would you give for, like a newbie broker, someone in the market?
Tsouskas: I've always kept the same approach with every role that I do: I always look at the human element and keep it simple. I go into meetings now with banks and they're all suited up and uptight, especially with commercial bankers. And then there's the bank lingo that coincides with that. But most borrowers don't like that. They just want to get to the point and understand who we can help them. So the tips for becoming a better broker, or banker, or anyone really, is just keep it simple and put a bit of a human element in everything you touch every day.
It doesn't always have to be about being the best broker, or banker, or about trying to get the highest commission or getting the biggest deal. It's about helping the first-home buyer, [or] helping that person get that development deal, the person who has struggled in the past with things. So a lot of brokers go for the sale. We go for the human element and look at income last.
ABW: Do you work with a lot of repeat clients?
Tsouskas: Yes. We like to help our clients with their initial needs and then work with them the entire way. Life's a journey. We're on a journey with them. They might be a first-home buyer. But as a broker you touch base with them every few weeks, every few months, and understand how they are doing. That might lead to repeat business. You have to be on the journey with them. Because they've got more needs down the track. They want to build and grow and whatnot. So borrowers might be a first-time buyer, might be a developer. Might be anyone.
ABW: How have you seen the industry change in the two decades you've been working in it?
Tsouskas: We get a lot of clients coming to me saying, “I can't go to my bank. I can't go to get the loan. How can you help me? Am I dead in the water? Or do I have some chance of getting some debt here?” And then I'll say, “Okay, where did you go?” And they'll say, for example, “I went to NAB.” And I'll say, “It might actually work at CBA, or Westpac, or ANZ, or whatever. It might not work at that one bank. But it might work at other banks with different policies.” As brokers, we know a lot of policies, hundreds of policies. We know where to put a client. And there's been more of a reliance on brokers as a result.
ABW: How do you stay on top of all the policies at all the banks and non-banks?
Tsouskas: Being in the industry for so long. That's actually the first question I asked when I [started working at] Lending Association. My first week, I tapped my colleague on the shoulder and said, “How do you know where to go for what?” And they said, “It'll come; it'll click eventually.” Because [prior to that], I came from Westpac, and I was like, I only know Westpac. But, I learned that as a broker you don't have to know everything about every policy, as long as you know a large enough portion so that you can help the client with what they need. Now, without a doubt, I usually know within five minutes of talking to a client, and working with a team, where to send them, between one or two or three banks.
ABW: How is business now? Are you seeing a lot of activity in the market?
Tsouskas: I've seen rates at 5%, then go down to 2%, then back up to 6% [throughout the course of my career]. I mean, we're busy all year round; we've got refinances, purchases, developments going on all year round, despite the market. We don't stop. I've seen the GFC, COVID[-19], the Royal Commission. Obviously, now it's a bit of a weird time with market uncertainty. But the market hasn't really wavered. There hasn't been a lot of change. We're still really busy.
Maybe now, from what I'm seeing, the clients are asking me a lot more questions, especially when their rates go up. They want to see what their options are to save a few hundred bucks every month. So every day is different. Every hour is different. We don't have a structured day. And I love it. I love that every hour is a challenge. That's the beauty of broking. I love a challenge and I love how quickly it can change.
