Non-bank lender breaks the $9bn barrier

Queensland-based Firstmac said that the milestone follows three consecutive months of record broker settlements and high numbers of new broker accreditations.

Firstmac founder Kim Cannon said that the strong growth highlighted the increasing impact that Firstmac was having on Australian home lending.

“In a highly concentrated market, Firstmac is one of the few players that is going against the flow and beating the banks at their own game,” Mr Cannon said.

“We are offering brokers and their clients a genuine alternative to the banks with innovative products that are attracting the highest quality borrowers.”

Mr Cannon added that brokers had played a key role in Firstmac’s success and would continue to underpin the company’s growth in the coming years.

“Brokers play an important role in our business and that role is only becoming stronger, with a steady increase in broker usage over the past year,” Mr Cannon said.

“I would like to thank the brokers who have helped us reach $9 billion. With their help, we are well on the way to reaching our next target of $10 billion under management.”

Firstmac now has $10.5 billion in loan facilities, of which $1.5 billion is held in undrawn, redrawable offset facilities.

Since March 2017, Firstmac has issued $2.7 billion in Residential Mortgage Backed Securities (RMBS) to a range of Australian and overseas institutional investors.

Firstmac priced a $1.0 billion RMBS issue in September and $1.7 billion RMBS issue in March. The deals were significantly oversubscribed and supported by a variety of domestic and foreign institutions.

The group is now the 14th largest residential mortgage lender in Australia, ahead of household names Citibank, Heritage Bank and Newcastle Permanent.

[Related: Non-bank lobs $25m takeover bid for ADI]