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The asset finance aggregator has hired a former broker and senior BDM as its new national sales manager to help drive the group’s growth plans.
Platform Finance has this week welcomed Scott Thomson to its ranks as national sales manager, to help the asset finance aggregator deliver its growth agenda.
Mr Thomson, who was most recently a senior business development manager (BDM) at Pepper Money and has previous experience as a broker, started his new position on Tuesday (14 June).
In his new role, Mr Thomson will “lead the sales team into [its] next phase of growth,” according to Damian Mantini, Platform Finance’s director aggregation and strategic partnerships.
He commented: “Scott is an awesome addition to the team. We have worked with him for several years in his most recent role as relationship manager with Pepper, and he’s culturally very well aligned to the Platform Finance values. He’s worked across lending, aggregation – and he’s been a broker.
“Scott has a deep understanding of the asset finance market, both in the consumer and commercial sectors, and his experience and expertise mean he’s well prepared to lead the sales team into our next phase of growth.”
Mr Mantini added that the new recruit will “execute on [Platform’s] strategic objectives of growing the business”, which include doubling the sales team from three to six BDMs (for strategic partnerships) and expanding the operations team.
While the operations team currently includes around 40 staff, the overall head count for the asset finance group is expected to be more than 110 employees next financial year.
Mr Mantini noted that the growth in support for the third-party channel comes as the group continues to experience record asset finance settlement growth.
Platform reportedly surpassed its previous year’s results at the end of April 2022, and recorded 30 per cent volume growth on the prior comparative period.
Mr Mantini stated that the strategic partnerships part of the business had experienced a settlement growth rate of 50 per cent in May 2022 (when compared with May 2021), driven by a surge in demand for asset finance (particularly for private motor vehicle sales – propelled by the instant asset write-off); Platform Finance’s expanding product offering; and its “enhanced support for SMEs”.
He added that the growth was “testament to the hard work our team members have put in with the broker network and their customers.”
“Our SME lender panel is now even stronger than ever to support commercial asset finance customers and brokers, while in the consumer space we’ve been able to grow our personal loan offering for our brokers’ clients,” he continued.
“We’ve been working closely with our brokers as they prepare their market strategies for EOFY, which has also led to the record results in May.”
According to the asset finance aggregator, its parent company (COG Financial Services Limited), is reportedly aiming to close the financial year at $7 billion in settlements, compared to $5 billion in FY21.
He continued: “We expect more brokers to diversify and get into asset finance as the home loan market conditions change,” noting that “with issues like supply challenges, more private sales, rates moving, and the sheer number of funding options available, brokers are increasingly seeing the benefits of partnering with an asset finance specialist”.
“We operated in an unusually low-rate environment for an extended period, so we’re certainly managing and resetting customer expectations. And on the supply chain challenges, it’ll mean customers will need to pre-order motor vehicles well in advance.
“Despite these challenges, our team is here to help support our brokers,” Mr Mantini concluded, adding that the aggregator would be rolling out improvements to its systems and processes (such as streamlining data collection) as well as offering more marketing and education for brokers in the new financial year.”
[Related: Good Assets]
AUTHOR
Annie Kane is the editor of The Adviser and Mortgage Business.
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