From recruitment and scaling to succession and leadership, find out what brokers are tackling in 2026
The Mortgage and Finance Association of Australia (MFAA) has released the final two guides in its Business Growth Roundtable Insights series.
Titled ‘Professionalism, standards and trust’ and ‘People, culture and succession planning’, they give an insight into how Australia’s best brokerages are tackling the biggest issues facing the broking profession in 2026.
Three previous guides – ‘Business growth through strategic partnerships’, ‘Expanding your client services’ and ‘Technology, efficiency and cyber resilience’ – were published in December.
The MFAA compiled the guides following a round of nationwide roundtables conducted last year.
“All guides reflect the real experiences and insights shared by leading brokerages during the roundtable series,” MFAA executive, member experience and partnerships Melanie Kafka (pictured), said. “They offer constructive ideas that brokers can use to strengthen their businesses and support their clients.
“As expectations around professionalism and leadership continue to rise, these insights help brokers think more deliberately about how they grow.”
In People, culture and succession planning, top brokerages discussed the biggest challenges they are currently facing, including:
-
Recruitment: Finding good people and keeping them on board is getting tougher. Broking competes with other finance roles, commission-heavy structures can be off-putting, and new hires want clarity on income potential early on. As one put it, people are looking for a long-term pathway, not just a role.
-
From solo broker to team player: Lone operators often struggle to move into a true leadership position and hand work over. “You have to stop being the best broker and start being the business owner, that’s hard,” said one broker
-
Scaling: Bringing new people on board and training them well is extremely time-intensive and can be “a job in itself”, according to one broker.
-
Maintaining culture: Larger, more dispersed teams and offshore staff are making it harder to keep standards and values consistent
-
Regulation: Compliance, Best Interests Duty expectations and lender policy shifts can be overwhelming for new brokers
-
Managing cash flow: Hiring more people, funding salaries or retainers, and investing in systems can push out succession planning and delays investment in culture-building initiatives.
-
Unclear succession and exit pathways: Many founders don’t have a defined plan for stepping back or transitioning ownership. One broker said: “We know we should plan earlier and involve our staff in that planning, but the day-to-day gets in the way.”
-
Limited leadership capacity: Owners frequently feel pulled in all directions – client work, bringing in business, compliance obligations, and technology decisions – leaving minimal time for strategic leadership and coaching
In Professionalism, standards and trust, top brokerages across Australia revealed some clear emerging themes, including:
-
Low barriers to entry: Current entry standards don’t match the complexity and real-world pressure of today’s broking
-
Inconsistent mentoring and limited career pathways: Mentors are time-poor and lack the structure to be effective trainers
-
Cyber and data risks: Many businesses lack the framework to tackle emerging technological risks
-
Reputational risks: Internal conflicts can damage brand and reputation. How fees are charged and how retention activities are run must be transparent to preserve client confidence
-
Recruitment and retention: It is becoming harder to hire and retain staff unless clear development pathways and a supportive growth culture are in place
“The firms that are thriving see broking as a true profession, they want to see a continued lifting of standards across the industry, from entry level education and career pathways for the next generation of brokers,” said the MFAA.
“They invest in themselves to role model their drive for continuous personal improvement. They put real effort into identifying talent for their businesses and support new brokers early through structured mentoring rather than leaving them to ‘figure it out’.”
All guides are now accessible online.
