The joint venture, named Independent Mortgage & Insurance Group (IMIG), will kick off with an annual mortgage volume of more than $1.3 billion making them one of the largest mortgage brokers in the country.
Mortgage Express, now fully owned by Harcourts, has 50 mobile mortgage managers, who collectively settle around $720 million each year.
Mortgage People claims to be “Auckland's largest broking firm, writing well over $600 million in loans a year from their head office on Ponsonby Road.”
The groups says in a statement that it is also “in final negotiations with other broking firms and independent brokers who can see the benefits of being part of a national broking network and who will likely join the group.”
“Whilst mortgages are the immediate business, both companies have been trialing insurance broking and will now work together to ensure that this is included in the range of services they offer the home buyer.”
“It is the objective of the group to build a $5 billion mortgage distribution network ensuring that 60% of this has a risk policy attached to it”.
The companies will share IT platforms, back end processing, management, overheads and marketing.
The group will also focus on various channels that each company has been developing. This will include the multi-national Harcourts real estate group which throughout its Australasian network has annual sales in excess of $17 billion.
“The key benefit of the new group is that we can offer instant volume for suppliers looking to grow market share in mortgages and insurance”.
