After having weathered over two decades of change since launching her business, the head of a finance broking firm is calling on the industry to better adapt and continue to modernise in order to preserve its relevance into the future.
“The financial services industry as a whole needs to be looking outside the square and connecting better with the community, especially with young people who are a new breed of employee and consumer,” said Mhairi MacLeod, founder and principal of Astute Ability Finance Group.
“If we’re to survive in the financial services industry, particularly in the aftermath of the Hayne Royal Commission, we must commit to social responsibility to bolster our profile, improve public perception and attract future employees, brokers and clients.”
While MacLeod urged brokers to ramp up their community and consumer focus following the royal commission, she also celebrated how far the industry has come since launching her business 21 years ago.
“There are many more women in broking now than when I started out. The financial services industry was definitely male-dominated. I’m proud of how far we’ve come, and that more women have become brokers and are highly involved in the industry at senior levels,” she said.
“Broking provides women with an opportunity to achieve work/life balance due to the ability to run their own business, the flexible working conditions and the nature of the work. There is also no ceiling of income. Men and women are on equal footing when it comes to earning capacity.”
While the industry has been evolving, Astute Ability Finance Group has experienced a transformation of its own, expanding from its local customer base in a time before electronic direct marketing or email to a nationwide network of clients worthy of a string of industry accolades.
