Pepper's Mike Culhane on remaining broker-focused

Pepper Group's CEO reflects on 2017 and plans to raise their broker originated lending even higher than its current 94% of Pepper's total

Pepper's Mike Culhane on remaining broker-focused

Pepper Group took home two AMAs this year, for Non-bank of the Year and Most Effective Online Presence – Lender. Founder of Pepper and Group CEO, Mike Culhane, talks to MPA about their successes and plans to raise their broker originated lending even higher than its current 94% of Pepper's total.

What has been the biggest contributing factor to Pepper’s success at the AMAs this year?
Pepper Group has continued its leadership over the last year in the non-bank sector in Australia, UK, Spain, Ireland and South Korea, coupled with investments in Italy, Hong Kong and China.

We have become a global leader in finding alternative financing solutions with over 600,000 customers worldwide, 1,800 employees and $53.2 billion in funds under management, as at June 30, 2017.

Pepper has built up a unique and broad-based distribution footprint unlike any other provider, with $8 billion in lending assets and a servicing portfolio worth $45.3 billion. Our loan volumes grew 17 per cent over the last year to $1.38 billion.

We continue to post record lending volumes and have increased our penetration of the distribution channels we support, with strong relationships being built up with our broker partners, mortgage managers, aggregators, business to consumer white label providers and auto dealers.

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What does Pepper have planned for brokers in the New Year?
We will continue to build our links with brokers over 2018, with our mortgage broker utilisation rising by 20% over the last year. Brokers are now responsible for 94% of our originations.

We plan to offer even greater support to our broker network over the next year to lift their share of our lending even higher than present.

What is the biggest challenge facing the broking industry right now?
The biggest challenge for Pepper Group and other non-banks remains the Federal Government and regulators imposing even greater controls on the industry. We are concerned that there may be very real and unintended consequences for the customers of all non-banks as a result of greater regulation and oversight.

It is essential that legislation and regulation is introduced in a manner that does not result in the exclusion of a whole segment of ordinary Australians from accessing housing finance.

What are Pepper’s proudest achievements looking back over 2017?
A major highlight of the 2016-2017 financial year was our launch of Pepper Money, extending our distribution footprint across 28 white label partners, which offer Pepper products and services. Our products are flexible enough to suit multiple channels, including a growing number of B2C distributors.