Firstmac, one of Australia’s largest non-bank lenders, has hit a new milestone with $9 billion in mortgages under management and added more than $1 billion to its loan book in just four months. This follows a spike in broker accreditations, and provides more evidence of a surge in mortgage lending to non-traditional lenders, as banks tighten their underwriting standards.
From The Adviser. The milestone follows three consecutive months of record broker settlements and high numbers of new broker accreditations.
“In a highly concentrated market, Firstmac is one of the few players that is going against the flow and beating the banks at their own game,” Firstmac founder Kim Cannon said.
“We are offering brokers and their clients a genuine alternative to the banks with innovative products that are attracting the highest quality borrowers.”
Mr Cannon added that brokers had played a key role in Firstmac’s success and would continue to underpin the company’s growth in the coming years.
“Brokers play an important role in our business and that role is only becoming stronger, with a steady increase in broker usage over the past year,” Mr Cannon said.
“I would like to thank the brokers who have helped us reach $9 billion. With their help, we are well on the way to reaching our next target of $10 billion under management.”
Firstmac now has $10.5 billion in loan facilities, of which $1.5 billion is held in undrawn, redrawable offset facilities.
Since March 2017, the group has issued $2.7 billion in Residential Mortgage Backed Securities (RMBS) to a range of Australian and overseas institutional investors.
Firstmac priced a $1.0 billion RMBS issue in September and $1.7 billion RMBS issue in March.
The non-bank said that it is now the 14th largest residential mortgage lender in Australia, ahead of Citbank, Heritage Bank and Newcastle Permanent.
