Inside Hai Money's $2bn rise and mission to help new brokers thrive in a tough industry
This article was produced in partnership with Hai Money.
How do you measure a year in the life of a startup?
The multi-Tony Award winning Broadway show RENT (which is opening at the Sydney Opera House in September) provides one memorable answer for how to measure a year in its iconic theme song: in minutes - five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred of them to be exact.
There are 525,600 minutes in a year, 525,600 moments that matter for an aggregator start-up like Hai Money. Do you count these moments in cups of coffee consumed during late-night strategy sessions? In the distance travelled between client meetings? In the moments of triumph when another broker closes their first deal?
For Hai Money, the arithmetic of success tells a compelling story. Twelve months after launch, the finance aggregator's loan book hovers near $2bn – a figure that would make seasoned industry veterans pause mid-sip of their morning flat white. But numbers, as any good storyteller knows, are merely the skeleton of a narrative. The real story lies in what those figures represent.
Consider this: since January, the percentage of active brokers in Hai Money's network—those actually settling loans rather than simply holding membership cards—has jumped from 50% to 70%. That's a level of engagement that suggests something out of the ordinary is happening here.
The young and the restless
Bruce Li, head of growth and strategy at Hai Money, has spent considerable time thinking about why so few young Australians choose finance broking as a career. The Australian Bureau of Statistics paints a stark picture: just 3.9% of the workforce aged 20-24 were finance brokers in 2021.
"We want to lift this figure—we believe the influx of young entrepreneurship can be leveraged in the broking industry," Li said. "By giving them the tools and support to grow, we can ensure the next generation of broking professionals has a strong and promising future."
Li's observation touches on something larger than recruitment statistics. In an industry where experience often trumps enthusiasm, and where established networks can feel impenetrable to newcomers, Hai Money has positioned itself as something of a translator—helping young professionals decode the unwritten rules of finance broking.
The company's approach reflects a broader shift in how professional services firms think about talent development. Rather than expecting new hires to sink or swim in traditional apprenticeship models, Hai Money has constructed what amounts to a floating device: comprehensive support that keeps struggling brokers afloat while they learn to navigate choppy waters.
Education as competitive advantage
Every month, Hai Money orchestrates what might generously be called controlled chaos: multiple BDM roundtable sessions where lender business development managers present product releases, policy updates, and dissect real loan scenarios like medical students examining case studies. Add monthly induction days, compliance masterclasses, CRM training sessions, and dedicated mentoring, and you have something resembling a university extension programme embedded within a commercial operation.
This educational infrastructure isn't altruism dressed up as business strategy. Li and his team have calculated that better-trained brokers generate more settlements, which drives loan book growth, which attracts more lenders, which creates more opportunities for brokers. It's a virtuous cycle, assuming you can execute it properly.
The company's diversified lending portfolio gives brokers what amounts to a practice laboratory—multiple products to master, different scenarios to navigate, various client needs to address. Li said this breadth keeps brokers engaged and confident in delivering solutions.
The physics of face-to-face interaction
Despite operating in an increasingly digital world, Hai Money has discovered something that Zoom fatigue sufferers will recognise: virtual connection has its limits.
"There's no doubt that face-to-face connections deliver significant value that digital interactions alone can't replace," Li said.
The company has quietly expanded its physical presence from New South Wales to Victoria and Queensland, with plans for national coverage. This geographic expansion represents more than market penetration; it acknowledges that some aspects of professional development resist digitisation.
Li's team has observed that brokers who attend in-person events tend to remain more engaged over time. The reasons likely extend beyond networking opportunities to something more fundamental about human psychology—the way shared physical space creates bonds that video calls struggle to replicate.
Technology without the techno-babble
Hai Money recently launched an AI credit system that functions as a comprehensive policy library. The goal is straightforward: reduce the time brokers spend researching credit criteria so they can spend more time with clients. Later this year, the company plans to introduce its own referral system to help brokers generate leads.
Li described these initiatives without the breathless enthusiasm typically associated with fintech announcements. The technology serves the business model, not the other way around.
"We're not here to be seen as a traditional aggregator," Li said. "Hai Money is an all-in-one broker services platform designed to help brokers at any stage of their career grow their business with the right tools and real support behind them."
The arithmetic of engagement
The correlation between Hai Money's educational investments and its business metrics suggests that treating brokers as assets worth developing, rather than revenue generators to be optimised, produces measurable returns. The jump from 50% to 70% active participation rates since January indicates that more network members are successfully completing settlements—a sign that training translates into performance.
As Hai Money's broker network approaches 200 members, the company faces the challenge that confronts all scaling operations: maintaining quality while increasing quantity. The education programmes that work for dozens of brokers may require adaptation for hundreds.
Li's team appears aware of this tension. Their focus on building sustainable support systems rather than pursuing rapid expansion suggests they've thought carefully about the difference between growth and progress.
In an industry where relationships matter as much as rates, and where trust often determines which aggregator a broker chooses, Hai Money's first-year performance offers an interesting case study in what happens when you measure success not just in dollars settled, but in professionals developed.
So, how do you measure a year in the life of such a startup? At Hai Money, the numbers tell part of the story — a $2bn loan book, 70% of network brokers actively settling loans, and national expansion well underway. But the real measure lies in the growing cohort of brokers gaining the skills, confidence, and support to succeed in an industry that doesn’t always make it easy for newcomers. And somewhere between the coffee cups and deal celebrations, those 525,600 moments add up to become momentum.
Hai Money, derived from the concept of the 'Money Sea', is a sub-aggregator of Finsure. Hai Money puts brokers at the centre of focus, aiming to provide support in various ways to ensure no one is left behind in this ever-changing market. Its mission is to ‘set you up, build your brand, and sail you to success’. Hai Money recognises the value and potential that brokers hold, meaning that they won’t get treated like a mere number among thousands as part of the aggregator experience.
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