Advocacy remains cornerstone of FBAA’s raison d’etre

The eighth annual Finance Brokers Association of Australia (FBAA) Awards of Supremacy was a spooky success this Halloween.

Over a stacked day on Friday, 31 October, 650-plus guests descended on the Royal Pines, Gold Coast, for the FBAA 2025 National Industry Conference (NIC).

The conference kicked off with the major announcement that Brett Spencer, founder and chief executive of DocuScan Australia, was taking over as chairman of the association, effective immediately.

"It’s a great honour to take on the role as chair of the FBAA and I thank my fellow board members for their confidence," Spencer said. "My thanks goes to Tony Carter for his long-term service and I’m looking forward to continuing to work with him over the next year.

Taking to the stage for his keynote speech, FBAA managing director Peter White (pictured) positioned advocacy as the cornerstone of the FBAA’s raison d’etre.

The FBAA certainly has the ear of policymakers – Assistant Treasurer of Australia Daniel Mulino tuned in remotely for a detailed overview of Labor’s key policy initiatives.

But White made clear the difficulties in getting the broking industry’s message across to the powers that be.

Mulino “knows nothing” about the damaging effects clawbacks have on brokers, said White. He clarified that this is not an indictment of Mulino, but of a political system that refuses to pass knowledge onto successive governments.

“Every time there's new financial ministers into any portfolio, they come from a zero knowledge base… there's no transition of knowledge of what's been going on," White said. "They've got to start again.”

However, Mulino is “very keen” to hear the broking industry’s qualms with clawbacks, and this will “probably” be the focus of the next meeting between the FBAA and the Assistant Treasurer, said White.

White revealed that over half of brokers lost $10,000 due to claws backs in 2024, with close to one in 10 brokers losing a bruising $30,000. “That's no chunk change… We need to make sure this is resolved to be fair to all of you, fair to the lenders and fair to the consumers, to the borrowers.”

The clawback issue is just one of the many advocacy initiatives the FBAA is currently engaged in. White spoke of the important work the FBAA is doing around raising standards of education and addressing the interests of brokers at both federal and state levels.

He also highlighted the FBAA’s commitment to supporting mental health within the industry. The FBAA provides access to resources such as the Wellness App, which offers support for challenges including depression, anxiety, and substance abuse.

FBAA reveals broking industry’s best

The FBAA’s membership was greater than 13,700 brokers as of 30 October, White revealed. The best of the best of this growing membership base was celebrated at a Halloween-themed gala dinner at the Royal Pines’ 1500-square-metre ballroom.

In typical elaborate fashion, White, dressed in an eerily convincing Freddy Krueger costume, kicked the festivities off with a dance number to Billie Eilish’s "Bad Guy".

Redom Syed of Flint Group took home the coveted Finance Broker of the Year Award. In accepting the accolade, Syed gave a heartfelt speech of the financial hardships his family faced growing up, and how these experiences continue to motivate him to help others with their finances.

The full list of winners are:

• National Finance Broker of the Year – Redom Syed

• New Finance Broker of the Year – Kobe Clarke-Jacobs

• Industry Champion of the Year – Julian Fayad and Victoria Coster

• Aggregation BDM of the Year – Claire Wilson

• Asset & Equipment BDM – Amanda Mowbray

• Finance Broker of the Year – Commercial Asset and Equipment - William Hamer

• Finance Broker of the Year – Commercial Property - Xiaoyang (George) Sha

• Industry Supplier of the Year – Quickli

• Lender BDM of the Year – Scott Chandler

• Mentor of the Year – Peter Mastroianni

• Mentee of the Year – Tristan Vercoe

• Finance Broker of the Year (Queensland and Northern Territory) – Sandy Kelso

• Finance Broker of the Year (New South Wales and ACT) – Redom Syed

• Finance Broker of the Year (Victoria) – Rishi Bhatia

• Finance Broker of the Year (South Australia) – Peter Savage

• Finance Broker of the Year (Tasmania) – Emmanuel Marios

• Finance Broker of the Year (Western Australia) – Jessie Nguyen