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The Finance Brokers Association of Australia (FBAA) brought together 650 attendees for its 2024 National Industry Conference on the Gold Coast last week, where managing director Peter White urged attendees to strive for excellence to seize the huge opportunity brokers have in Australia.
In line with the conference theme, which was “Empower Excellence”, the program included a range of sessions aimed at helping FBAA members level up as they head into 2025. They included updates on the state of the broking industry and the economy as well as business and resilience advice.
White said the FBAA now has more than 12,600 members in total, 94% of whom are customer-facing brokers, and “Empowering Excellence” was chosen as the theme because it was what the industry needed to do to ensure it was always growing and maintaining the trust of Australian consumers.
“I believe there is so much opportunity for business growth. Australia’s population is growing and our industry is highly respected,” White told Australian Broker.
“The conference was an opportunity to share this message, move forward together and be all that we can be. We want every member’s business to thrive.”
FBAA attendees heard an opening address from Australia’s assistant treasurer and minister for Financial Services, Stephen Jones, who referred to a strong relationship with the FBAA, and detailed the benefits he received from attending a meeting at the FBAA’s office earlier in 2024.
At the meeting in July, attended by FBAA brokers and aggregators, White said Jones had reinforced his commitment to consider “unfair” clawbacks and net offset commissions.
“We understand that topics like this take time, but are also optimistic that the work we continue to put in will pay off for our industry,” White said after the FBAA conference. “We have already seen changes by some lenders but of course there is still a long road ahead.”
FBAA attendees heard from CoreData founder Andrew Inwood, who detailed a “Golden Age of Broking” for Australia’s 21,000 brokers. White said the presentation made clear to attendees the “great opportunity that exists for brokers in a market that continues to be very strong.”
The program also included an economic outlook from Judo Bank’s Warren Hogan, resilience advice from former tennis star and author Jelena Dokic, a presentation from Chelsea and Jay Pottenger on wellbeing and high performance, and business advice from 42 Below Vodka founder Justine Troy.
White covered a number of new initiatives from the FBAA. These included education offerings for new brokers and those seeking further commercial and asset finance learning, as well as a wellness hub offering mental health support for those in the industry that might need this support.
“This is an online resource for direct access to mental health professionals and experts, including psychologists, trauma therapists, psychotherapists, domestic and family violence counsellors and more,” White said.
The FBAA’s conference program culminated in the association’s gala dinner and member awards program, the Awards of Supremacy, which aims to recognise “outstanding professionals” from its membership across a range of categories and locations in the Australian finance broking market.
White told Australian Broker the mortgage and finance broking industry in Australia “has proven its worth with Australians,” but also warned that “we can never take this for granted”.
“Technology is progressing and we must continue to move with the times,” White said.
“Borrowers use brokers because they trust us to have the necessary expertise and act in their best interests, so continued professional development is essential.
“Our annual conference is a great opportunity to reinforce these messages to members and to highlight the many ways brokers can be supported through the FBAA.”
White said the FBAA will “continue to fight for brokers” and support them throughout their career.
“I’d like brokers to be positive about the future and strive for excellence. Let’s stay focused and celebrate each other’s success. We are always stronger together,” he said.
