Smartline and The Mortgage Gallery have announced their intention to merge, effective 1st April 2012.
Smartline is a market leading mortgage broker group,
with 210 franchises nationally.
In 2011 Smartline won the MFAA Mortgage Broker of the Year, and has been recognized as Australia’s number one franchise by Topfranchise.com.au four years in a row.
WA-based The Mortgage Gallery is a highly respected mortgage broking group in WA. It was one of the first mortgage broking companies in Australia, having recently celebrated its 20th anniversary, and founder John Bignell is a pioneer of the broking industry.
The combined group will be a significant player in the mortgage industry, with more than 240 franchise owners nationally settling $4 billion in loans per year, with a combined loan book in excess of $17 billion.
The Mortgage Gallery brand and management team will continue under the merger.
In 2009 Smartline completed a merger with another of the original WA based mortgage broker groups, Mortgage Force, which has been very successful.
Smartline Managing Director Chris Acret said Smartline and The Mortgage Gallery were a ‘great fit’.
“The Mortgage Gallery is a great business. Both groups share similar values and have a similar culture – a culture of helping each other, professionalism and a real client focus. Both companies have a franchise model with a commitment to helping their franchise owners succeed and grow,” Mr Acret said.
“The Mortgage Gallery brokers are highly regarded right across the industry for their professionalism and have a reputation for providing their clients with great service.”, Mr Acret said.
“We’re excited about this move and confident that it will provide significant benefits for everyone involved.”
The Mortgage Gallery Director John Bignell said he was delighted to be merging with Smartline, which is one of the most highly respected groups in the mortgage broking industry.
“The Smartline business model will complement our existing way of doing business while adding significant value to our franchisees and loan writers,” he said.
“The Mortgage Gallery has been successfully operating as a stand-alone business for 20 years, during this time we have built a core group of business owners who are not only great at what they do, and at running their business, but they are fantastic people.”
“Merging with Smartline gives us the scale and resources to continue to grow and build our businesses, despite tougher market conditions. We are very confident that this merger will be a great long term result for all of our businesses and people”,
John said.
“To ensure the group as a whole and the businesses of our franchisees continue to prosper into the future, we felt that the time was right for us to partner with another group – and Smartline is the right group.”
For further information, contact Karen Baldwin at Ellwin Communications on 0419 829 458.
About Smartline
Established in 1999, Smartline is a multi award winning franchised mortgage broking group with a reputation for quality home loan advice and outstanding client care.
Smartline has been named Australia’s number one franchise by Topfranchise.com.au, an independent research group on several occasions in 2009, 2010 and 2011.
The group’s 200-plus franchisees/advisers have assisted more than 100,000 Australians to arrange a home loan, with 85% of Smartline’s business coming from a personal recommendation.
About The Mortgage Gallery
The Mortgage Gallery was established in 1992 as one of Australia’s first mortgage broking companies servicing the homebuyer.
Since then, The Mortgage Gallery has assisted thousands of Australians to find the loan that suits their
needs. The group offers a gallery of over 30 different bank and non-bank lenders with a complete range of loan products.
The Mortgage Gallery is committed to satisfying its customers with professionalism, honesty and integrity and aims to lead the industry in the demonstration of ethical business practices.
