What's shaping the mortgage industry in Australia?

Kylie Speer  00:00:07 Hello and welcome to MPA TV. I'm Kylie Speer, and my guest today is Adam Rakowski, Principal and Founder at Ortus Financial. Adam has been named as one of the winners of MPA's, Top 100 Brokers for 2024 Welcome to you, Adam, congratulations and thank you so much for joining us today. 

Adam Rakowski  00:00:28 Thank you great to be here. Appreciate it. 

Kylie Speer  00:00:32 Well, firstly, Adam, can you walk us through your career journey, highlighting key experiences that have shaped your approach to banking and finance.  

Adam Rakowski  00:00:43 I'm 45 years old. I've been in the industry for 24 years. So I graduated from university. My father is a banker, and I hadn't had no choice in many ways. I worked at Macquarie Bank as a graduate, but I had a strong view that I wanted to work, to learn how the whole thing works. I started in a role that I guess was back office very much, and I was fortunate to be able to move between roles where I learned every part of the chain that now as a broker, often you have to empathize with people in those roles. I've done all those roles. So over 15 years in Macquarie, I worked my way through from you know, from the very bottom, into a senior sales role where I had a big team, and I was in the commercial and corporate bank, and so it wasn't a home loan focus at the time, but again, a very diverse bunch of clientele I had. On day one, I had a corner shop, and then I had a company that turns over, you know, 100 million dollars with, you know, 2000 staff. So again, great, great diversity, exposure to different people. And I was 37 my wife, we having our first baby, and I was sitting in a meeting room like this, and I was looking around, and everyone, I guess, looked like me, was talking like me. And I realized at that time that whilst I love Macquarie and I couldn't work for another bank, I wanted to, I kind of missed the human interaction, the human side of things. I decided then and there, to go at it on my own and start a broking business. And that that sort of how it happened in 2016 and over the last couple of years, over the first few years we we had a commercial focus, and then again, I just missed that human interaction on the Home Loan Fund and that emotional connection. And in 2019 Ortus Financial was formed, and it was just me for the first year, year and a half, and now we have a team of 16 or 17 as of today, actually, so growing quite rapidly. And, yeah, I wouldn't, wouldn't change a thing. 

Kylie Speer  00:02:35 Founding a mortgage broking business is a significant step. What challenges did you face in the initial stages of autus financial and how did you overcome them? 

Adam Rakowski  00:02:47 The hardest thing for me, and I've done many things as a salesperson, I was very good at that. I think I was fortunate enough, over the years Macquarie to always be in the top one or two salespeople. And I think I had a really good, really good process of doing it, but I was quite terrible at running the business, I think. And I had people at the bank who were amazing in their own part of the train, and they would always support me, and I wouldn't have had the outcome without them as a, you know, starting Ortus Financial I had to be all of those people. So part of the challenge was being, I guess, self aware, and realizing that I was really good at one part of it. Get to run a business, you really need to be good at everything. So initially, of course, when the income or the deals weren't there, you need to be able to, I guess, trust in your ability in a process, and just get used to the fact that things won't be perfect. But again, being sort of across every bit of the process initially was quite challenging and daunting, because, again, it wasn't my my Macquarie experience, for the most part, was in sales. So I actually enjoyed going back to I mentioned, you know, on day one the routes at Macquarie, where I got to look at different parts of the of the chain. And that was the hardest part, is getting it off the ground to the point where I can had a consistent end to end your client experience. 

Kylie Speer  00:04:03 What insights can you share about establishing and maintaining relationships in the banking and finance industry, particularly in today's competitive landscape? 

Adam Rakowski  00:04:15 Yeah, look and again, forgive me for saying it, because it is, it is sometimes a bit of a obvious thing, but I've always been big on on human skills, and for all my sins, I'm very self aware, and I think have no problem asking questions and understanding, again, where I've got shortcomings. So it was just all about placing heavy reliance on on the people side. And after all, it is a people business, you know, we do buying a house or a property for most people, is the biggest thing they'll ever do. So I guess for me, empathy, thanks to my parents, comes naturally. So I've always been really big on respect, treating people equally. I was fortunate to have amazing upbringing. I went to a good school. I had a lot of diverse friends with many different backgrounds as I was exposed to things where I was in. Positive, and I learned a lot. And again, Macquarie only enhanced that. I worked with some amazing people. Again, I focused very much on the human side, being respectful, saying please and thank you, if you promise something doing this. And again, out loud, you'd say, oh, it's common sense to do so, but often we find in a highly transactional business, understandably, if you're under pressure or you're busy, you can, you can lose track of those kind of things. Again, we've been very, very careful to keep that really, really close to our heart. A lot of our clients are buying a home, and again, highly emotional and empathy is a big thing, and being able to put yourself in their shoes. And that also applies to dealing with credit assessors and people at a bank, you know, I've, I've done all those roles that they've done, and sometimes under stress, people want to lash out. And again, just that simple focus on the human side has led to growth to, you know, where we're not marketing to people or having to pitch ourselves. It was just you do the right thing by people, and the rest tends to take care of itself. 

Kylie Speer  00:06:03 In your opinion, Adam, what are the key trends currently shaping the banking and mortgage industries in Australia? 

Adam Rakowski  00:06:10 A lot of brokers industry, obviously, and I think now 75% of all flow in the home loan space is a through a broker, which is fantastic, because it was closer to 50 when I when I started. But equally, you get to a point, as we found, where scale becomes, you know, an issue. So like I said, we're very, very dear to our heart is being true to ourselves and having that strong relationship focus and people focus. But as you grow, of course, scale becomes something that you might crave. But again, for us, not losing sight of where we've come from. So having sustainable growth, rather than just growing the growth sake. And I see the industry a lot of my peers, they had great success, and they go from zero to 100 very quickly. But you can be lucky sometimes, but staying there is quite, quite tough. Again, a lot of the challenges around competition and just being true to yourself, not being transactional. That's where, I think, in the last year, year and a half, where the property markets been a bit subdued. You have to work for those deals. You can't just, you know, open the door and have them come in. So I think just being, being a long term thinker, and not being transactional, and looking at things you can do outside of what you've been doing all the time. So again, a lot of residential brokers now are looking at commercial or adjacent spaces, equipment, finance, those kind of things as well. Are great to get into. But again, be considered about it. Don't rush into it. A lot of people are doing it. Take a step back, learn about those parts of the market. Because again, commercial broking is very different, and as an ex commercial broker. Again, there's a lot of different things to look out for, but I think being true to what you are, understanding what your value proposition is, and just and sticking to that. And again, the competition, you know, is huge, but don't worry too much about what the competition is doing. Be focused on yourself and be true to that, and just invest in that brand and that personal brand as a business, that that is where things work very well. 

Kylie Speer  00:08:03 Adam, how do you see technology impacting the mortgage broking field in the near future? 

Adam Rakowski  00:08:10 I see tech as a enabler. Again, I've got a strong view. Won't replace broking, and I think Tech has been around for many years. Again, on on 45 and I can remember being in a meeting at Macquarie 15 years ago about how tech will do this and do that, and there's no doubt that it has obviously enabled a better client experience. Our sort of sales platform is fantastic that we use where the client has end to end online functionality. There's no requirement to print anything or the compliance box assigned and saved automatically. So as a as a single person operator, when I first started having that tech was amazing, because I didn't need to have 20 staff. I could do it all just with a bit of hard work and and tech. But like I said, it's a human business. So I don't see I'm not scared of tech. I see it as an enabler. And I think, again, you know, every client conversation we have has a personal touch to it that there's people want to feel like that they're heard, and not to say that computers and tech can't do it. But again, embracing Tech is a far better mindset to have, because there are things you can find you'll do more efficiently often. Again, when I was first starting as a smaller operation, I was doing things inefficiently and making it harder than I needed to do, and embracing a few simple changes in that, in that process, from a tech point of view, gives you more time to do sales meetings, client meetings, referral meetings, so again, not being scared to look at what your peers are doing. So now I've got many friends in the industry, and I asked them and call them, hey, I've got this problem. How do you do it? Is there a better way I can be doing it? And I think a lot of people in the industry, it will help you. And if you've been there and you've had a problem and someone comes to you, I know that I would always help. So again, just looking, looking at it as a as a positive and an enhancement of your of your service offering. 

Kylie Speer  00:09:57 What are your long term goals for Ortus Financial and how do you plan to scale the business moving forward? 

Adam Rakowski  00:10:05 We have some grand plans. We've just opened a Queensland office recently. So I think that for me, I've always been about the people. Again, I learned from amazing people at Macquarie. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for them, and I love that I can now have a team who work with me. And whilst we've got a real focus across the board, we do residential to commercial of all sizes, first time buyers up until people have many properties. And we have one key thing in that we hire good people, and we have people who, again, are respectful and do things the right way. So we do want to grow, and we are growing, but sustainably. Again, we won't go against what we believe in, as far as the people in the team. So we've opened a Queensland office again. One of my Macquarie colleagues has joined us. I've known him for a long time, and I trust him, and he has that kind of personality, equally Melbourne, Perth and WA, in WA and Brisbane on the cards. We have discussions. There definitely a growth opportunity. We see a spot in the market for a firm, a number of firms, to have working from a first home owner like I mentioned, all the way through to a corporate business. We have that genuine capability across the entire board. So we want to grow into that space. And we have some pretty exciting plans ahead. And I think this time next year, the team of 17 will be a fair bit larger. 

Kylie Speer  00:11:26 And finally, Adam, how do you envision your role evolving within the mortgage and finance sector in the next five years? 

Adam Rakowski  00:11:34 Well, like I mentioned, yeah, I left Macquarie because I missed the actual human interaction and the face to face stuff. And no matter how much we grow and what we do, I don't want to be taken out of that. So again, I'm, I'm one that I firmly believe, and macro taught me this as well, is you hire people to to improve on your your own shortcomings. Again, I know what I'm I'm not good at from a strategic point of view, as we grow, then we are growing very rapidly, I've brought in people to help me, people who have done it before. You know, I've got no no ego in that way, you've got to be trusting and take on feedback from people. So for me, I love the client interaction. I do as many meetings as I can, and I'm more passionate today than I've ever been as far as delivering that, that client outcome. So yeah, no matter how far we grow and how fast we grow, my role won't change, and a lot of our referral partners and clients love that I'm close to everything, and I'd much rather bring people in, have have a team grow, and have the people around me exposed to new things that they otherwise wouldn't have got if, if I was hogging that as a principal. So Macquarie was an amazing environment for me. Took a lot from that, and I genuinely like coming to work and working with people that you like is a bonus. So for me, again, having that collegiate, sort of diverse bunch of people, where we all get along, but there's there's safety for ideas and feedback. And I think that is what Macquarie taught me, ultimately, is if you look back at the firms that do really well, whether it's insurance broking or engineers or medical, doesn't matter where there's safety for the staff and the team to share ideas and collaborate without fear of retribution or being shot down. And they're very flat structure. I hate titles again, having a flat structure where people can come and everyone's approachable is critical. I think that's one key takeaway from today, if nothing else, is having people around you as a team, everyone has an equal say, and they feel connected to the today and to the go forward. 

Kylie Speer  00:13:32 Well, congratulations once again, and thank you so much for your time today Adam. It was brilliant speaking with you. 

Adam Rakowski  00:13:38 Pleasure likewise. And I appreciate the opportunity. Thank you. 

Kylie Speer  00:13:42 And thank you, of course, to our viewers for watching the latest episode of MPA TV. We look forward to seeing you again soon.