Growth Summit places artificial intelligence front and centre, but are all brokers on board with the AI revolution?
What does an augmented broker look like? Is the future of broking high-tech or high-touch? How can artificial intelligence (AI) help with mounting compliance anxieties?
This is just a snapshot of the topics discussed at the 2026 LMG Growth Summit, where hundreds of brokers from across Australia descended on the Melbourne Convention Centre to hear from leading industry voices on the key challenges and opportunities shaping broking in 2026.
AI was very much the central theme this year, as Australia’s largest mortgage aggregator sought to position itself as a thought leader in the defining technological trend of the 21st century.
Some of these buzzwords evoke images of a human-machine hybrid, seeing not loan documents but lines of green code fluttering down their field of vision as they calculate serviceability requirements at the speed of a quantum computer.
Perhaps there’s more truth in the opposite, as is often the case. Discussions primarily centred around how AI can enhanced the broker-client relationship by stripping away the fat and allowing experts to focus on what really matters.
Striking the balance
One of LMG’s biggest AI statements over the past year has been the onboarding of Whitney Cali (pictured) as group executive – data, product and tech.
Cali, whose CV includes a 10-year-plus stint at Mortgage Choice-owner REA Group, took to stage alongside Dan McCoy, LMG’s GM customer products, to sermonise to the crowd about AI’s boundless potential in reshaping the broking industry.
AI as a powerful way to augment brokers, not replace them, they explained. It is freeing brokers from low‑value, time‑consuming tasks so they can dedicate their resources to client relationships, advice and the human element of broking, they added.
AI tools are driving efficiency by cutting hours of busy work through instant policy answers, automated note-taking, quality checks and smarter reporting, they continued.
Yet, while much of the discussion focused on the boundless opportunities AI presents for open-minded brokers, quantifying the core benefits of integrating AI at the scale LMG is pursuing is not an exact science.
Research shows that between 95% and 98% of companies “aren’t proving ROI” in their AI rollout, Cali noted in a follow-on discussion with MPA. “But I think we’re getting past that. There’s a lot of investment that needs to go in behind the scenes, which is new for us.” Not least the large-language model (LLM) suppliers that are charging LMG as it builds and refines its tool set.
In other words: the AI revolution isn’t cheap.
The risks of not committing to these investments, however, are massive. With rivals such as Commonwealth Bank-backed Lendi, MA Financial-owned Finsure and REA Group-owned Mortgage Choice drawing on the firepower of major publicly listed financial institutions, LMG risks being left behind if it fails to deliver a market‑leading service proposition to brokers.
But how can LMG be sure it is deploying the right amount of resources into AI when it could be doing other things to support brokers?
“That's the ultimate question,” Cali agreed. “We need to do the basics. We need to make sure that the functionality and the bugs that people have been complaining about for years – that have nothing to do with AI – have a percentage of our time allotted to that, and a percentage to AI. We haven't landed on that secret sweet spot yet, but it's an ongoing conversation.”
For Cali, success will boil down to three key questions: Are brokers prepared to pay for the cutting-edge AI tools now on offer? Is AI genuinely saving time and stripping friction out of the loan-writing process? And is it lifting brokers’ compliance game?
While the answer is a fairly confident yes on the first two fronts, the compliance piece remains the least tested – and arguably the one with the highest stakes.
Mounting compliance risks... and opportunities
Lenders and regulators alike have never been as hawkish as they are today.
Just last week, Australia’s largest mortgage lender Commonwealth Bank self-reported itself to the authorities over a whopping $1 billion in suspected home loan fraud. This came following a major review of compliance practices and customer lending documents revealed swatches of potentially doctored applications, including AI-generated submissions.
CBA cited “fraud being attempted through mortgage broking and referral channels”. These moves speak to the wider financial sector’s determination to show regulators it is serious about cracking down on home loan fraud.
Meanwhile, competing aggregators like Finsure have vocally expressed concerns over the lack of compliance knowledge among predominantly new-to-industry brokers.
This compliance risk is not lost on LMG.
While AI can help flag some compliance risk, “brokers do need to take ultimate accountability”, said Cali.
She added: “At the end of the day, there are mistakes that get made, and that's why we tell the brokers to do the final check, but we do everything we can to minimise the number of risks.” This includes LMG’s robust risk and security team, which is not going to be replaced by AI any time soon.
Growth Summit attendees also heard from LMG’s chief risk officer Luke Jarmaine, who argued that compliance isn’t a back‑office burden but a front‑line differentiator.
“Compliance isn't just about building a fortress around your reputation. It's building a reputation to bridge your clients’ trust,” he said.
Jarmaine framed compliance as a “strategic value” built on three levers: trust, velocity and value.
In a sceptical market, clients aren't just looking for the best rate anymore, “they're looking for the professional who does it right”. Those who manage this create a “trust premium” that fosters life-long client relationships.
Compliance also enables what Jarmaine calls “frictionless growth.” Rather than slowing you down, strong systems work like “high‑performance brakes in your race car… so you can drive faster with confidence". Clean files mean fewer complaints and stronger lender relationships, allowing brokers to scale without constant disruption.
In Jarmaine’s view, “high‑quality, tech‑driven compliance is the cheapest and most effective insurance policy you will ever buy.” On the other hand, “non‑compliance is now the most expensive way to run a business… high risk, low reward.”
The biggest challenge going forward will be how to navigate these existential compliance risks will going all in on AI.
This challenge isn't stopping LMG from rolling out new AI tools en masse.
In December, LMG rolled out MyCRM Intelligence, a set of AI tools built into its MyCRM platform. These tools include My Note Writer, which automatically drafts lender rationales, product selection notes and exit strategies based on information in the application file, and My Quality Assurance, which runs a review of each deal across more than 500 data points, highlighting missing details, gaps in funding and potential product mismatches before lodgement.
Growth Summit attendees got a sneak peek into the raft of MyCRM Intelligence upgrades coming their way.
Some brokers will be dragged kicking and screaming into this AI revolution. There were more than a handful of “gloomers” and “doomers” (to use LMG’s terminology) at the Growth Summit who are adamant that AI is a threat, not a friend.
They’re worried about the big existential risks presented by AI, and fear for the future of the broking industry if AI is not properly implemented. History will tell if their fears are justified.
