Brighten’s warm glow of success and innovation

Publication Date: Monday, 23 September 2024
This article originally appeared in Australian Broker.

Innovation and agility are the keys to success in the fast-evolving world of lending, but not every lender gets the formula right to allow these traits to flourish.

Over his career, Brighten chief executive Jason Azzopardi has been fortunate enough to witness first-hand examples of leadership and culture that were great – and not so great.

“I think early in my banking career, I was very fortunate to work with some outstanding leaders,” Azzopardi reflects. “They taught me a lot about culture, customer, broker and execution, and a lot of those learnings have formed my leadership style today.

“But I also learned a lot from leaders who weren’t that great. And I promised myself that if I was ever fortunate enough to get the opportunity to lead a business one day, that I would make sure that those behaviours didn’t exist.”

Seeing leaders who fell short of expectations alongside better role models helped Azzopardi to develop a leadership philosophy centered on creating a safe space for innovation and growth.

“It’s my job to create a space that’s safe for people to not fear making mistakes and challenge the status quo,” he explains. “That’s what really forms the ability for a company to grow.”

This emphasis on fostering a safe culture of innovation is reflected in Brighten’s recent rise in the non-bank lending sector. Azzopardi’s leadership style encourages team members to think creatively and take calculated risks, driving the company’s growth and setting it apart from competitors.

Since taking the helm at the start of the year, Brighten’s path has been illuminated by innovation, service excellence and adaptability. By expanding its product offerings and investing heavily in technology, Brighten is positioning itself as the lender of choice for brokers. As the company continues to expand into new markets, including commercial lending, it aims to become a one-stop shop for brokers and borrowers navigating the complexities of today’s financial landscape.

Driving growth through service excellence and product diversity

Brighten’s rapid growth in the non-bank lending sector has been no accident. The company has strategically positioned itself as a preferred lender for brokers through a combination of product breadth and exceptional service.

“What stands us apart initially to brokers is our breadth of product offering,” Azzopardi says. “We started in some really niche products in the non-resident, expat and construction world, and we’ve been able to move into the prime and prime alt-doc markets.”

This diverse product range allows Brighten to cater to a wide array of customer needs, from niche markets to more mainstream lending requirements. However, Azzopardi is quick to point out that product range alone isn’t enough to secure Brighten’s position in the market.

“The key part has been our service to the street,” he emphasises. “We’ve recruited an amazing sales and credit team, and that really underpins the offering to our brokers.”

Brighten’s commitment to service excellence is evident in its team structure. The company has invested heavily in building a robust sales and credit team, ensuring that brokers have access to knowledgeable professionals who can provide quick commercial decisions.

“Brokers have a BDM team that they can rely on to get product information and scenario deals,” Azzopardi explains. “And we have a highly commercial credit team based in Sydney, able to provide quick decisions to brokers.”

Meeting evolving broker expectations

In today’s dynamic market, what brokers need and expect from non-bank lenders can change quickly. Azzopardi identifies three key priorities that have become increasingly important: speed, consistency and borrowing capacity.

“SLAs [service level agreements] and the time it takes for us to provide an answer to a customer and a broker is very, very important,” he says, “whilst certainty and consistency of decisioning is equally important.”

The competitive landscape has intensified, with lenders needing to offer increasingly rapid turnaround times. However, Azzopardi stresses that speed shouldn’t come at the expense of consistency.

“Brokers do want that certainty that when they lodged an application with us two months ago, and they lodge a really similar one two months later, that they’re going to get the same decision,” he explains.

This focus on consistency builds trust with brokers, who can confidently recommend Brighten to their clients knowing that decisions will be reliable and predictable.

Adapting to the borrowing capacity challenge

In the current high-interest-rate environment, Azzopardi has noticed a shift in broker priorities.

“Clearly, it’s a high-interest-rate environment at the moment, and borrowing capacity has become a crucial part of the solution that brokers are trying to solve for consumers,” he says.

Brighten has responded to this challenge by developing products and assessment criteria that help consumers navigate the complexities of buying property in a high-interest-rate market. This adaptability to changing market conditions is a key factor in Brighten’s growing popularity among brokers.

Partly due to his experience in fintech companies, Azzopardi recognises the crucial role of technology in differentiating Brighten from its competitors. The company’s approach combines off-the-shelf solutions with proprietary systems, allowing for a tailored technological infrastructure that meets the specific needs of Brighten and its clients.

“We use a combination of buying technology and building our own,” Azzopardi explains. “This has served us pretty well so far.”

At the heart of Brighten’s technology strategy is a focus on enhancing the customer journey. “We see technology as an enabler for our people, to provide a better experience to the consumer and the broker,” Azzopardi says.

This approach has led to the development of a proprietary origination system that has garnered praise from industry professionals. “We’re very proud of our proprietary origination system that we’ve built,” Azzopardi states. “We have people joining from competitors, and we’re really proud that they’re very complimentary about our technology compared to others.”

Empowering brokers with tools and support

Brighten’s commitment to brokers extends beyond just offering competitive products and efficient service. The company has recently launched a comprehensive broker portal to provide real-time application tracking, product information and direct access to support staff.

“We’re very focused on our broker portal,” Azzopardi says. “It went live about three months ago, and we’re still assisting brokers to sign up.”

The portal serves as a one-stop shop for brokers, allowing them to track applications in real time, access product specifications and stay updated with the latest news and announcements. This investment in digital tools demonstrates Brighten’s commitment to making the lending process as smooth and transparent as possible for brokers and their clients.

In addition to digital tools, Brighten is also investing heavily in education and relationship-building. “We’re running a lot of education programs,” Azzopardi says. “We did a webinar last week for one of our aggregator partners where we had 350 brokers attend.”

These educational initiatives help brokers stay informed about Brighten’s products and services, enabling them to better serve their clients and navigate the complexities of the lending market.

Both challenges and opportunities ahead

As Brighten continues its journey to become the lender of choice for brokers, Azzopardi acknowledges the task ahead. “We are in a highly competitive environment with a number of great brands out there who we compete against,” he says.

However, he remains optimistic about Brighten’s prospects. The company is expanding its offerings, with a commercial lending division recently launched and plans to provide brokers with a comprehensive suite of products.

“We’re very focused on, of course, our home loan offering, but our commercial lending division has been live for the majority of this year,” Azzopardi reveals. “The pilot was launched to a small number of brokers initially, but we’re about to go out to the entire broker market with our commercial lending offering.”

This expansion into commercial lending will allow brokers to use Brighten for a wider range of lending needs, including full-doc, alt-doc, lease-doc and short-term commercial loans, providing fast access to funds when customers need it most. This diversification strategy positions Brighten as a versatile lending partner for brokers, capable of meeting a broad spectrum of client needs.

“Ultimately, what we really want to do is give brokers a one-stop shop for any type of customer they have,” Azzopardi says. “We’ve got the product for them, and when they do deal with us, we’re easy to deal with.”

As the Australian lending sector continues to evolve, Brighten is well positioned to illuminate the path forward with its culture of innovation and agility. By blending cutting-edge technology with a strong commitment to broker relationships and exceptional customer service, Brighten is poised for continued growth. Its focus on being ‘easy to deal with’ promises to continue being a guiding light for brokers.