5 Ways Mortgage Brokers Can Improve Revenue and Retain More Clients in 2026
- 19 hours ago
- 11 min read
Written by Christopher Hall, AdvDipFP | Authorised Representative, AFSL 526688 | June 2026
Mortgage brokers who consistently grow their loan books share a common discipline: systematic, proactive work on the existing client base before searching for new leads. Industry data shows that 44% of the typical broker’s pipeline comes from repeat clients and 28% from referrals — together, 72% of new business flows from clients who already know the broker (Mortgage and Finance Association of Australia, 2025, cited in MPA, 2025a). The five strategies below build that system: a disciplined contact cadence to capture clients at the right moment, a review process that simultaneously drives revenue and satisfies Best Interests Duty obligations, an education strategy that converts clients into advocates, metrics to keep the system running efficiently, and insurance referral as both a revenue stream and a retention loop.
What is the itch cycle, and why does it determine how much repeat business a mortgage broker generates?
Australian home loans have their own version of what automotive marketers call the “itch cycle.” In car sales, dealers have long observed that buyers become receptive to a new vehicle at around the 2.5–3 year mark — when trade-in equity peaks and repayments on a newer model can be structured to feel comparable to existing payments. The outreach is timed to the itch, not to the dealer’s sales targets (Motimatic, 2026).
A mortgage broker’s back book works the same way. A client who settled a home loan three years ago at a fixed rate that has since rolled off is now carrying a variable rate in an environment where the Reserve Bank lifted the cash rate to 3.85% in February 2026 (Broker.com.au, 2026). Equity has grown. Life circumstances may have changed. The itch has arrived — but the broker who makes no contact will never know.
The academic framework behind this observation is the 95:5 rule, developed by Professor John Dawes of the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute for Marketing Science, first published in a 2021 paper for LinkedIn’s B2B Institute. At any given moment, only approximately 5% of buyers are actively “in market” (Dawes, 2021). With a mortgage refinancing cycle of 3–5 years, roughly 20–25% of a back book becomes in-market across a full year — but a broker cannot identify which 20–25% without maintaining regular contact with all of them. The brand — or the broker — that is front of mind when the itch arrives is the one that gets the business (Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, 2025).
Jonathan Valentino, ranked No. 7 in the 2025 Top 100 Brokers list, attributes consistent repeat business to a CRM discipline his team maintains regardless of how busy they become: client contact approximately every three months, keeping clients engaged, returning and referring without requiring constant marketing effort (MPA, 2025a). XIN Mortgage, a top-performing brokerage, implements this differently — automated loan-anniversary rate reviews and two-year home-loan health checks that trigger without requiring the broker to remember each client’s timeline manually (MPA, 2025b).
The practical output: a calendarised system combining quarterly outreach, an anniversary rate alert, and a formal two-year health check. The tips that follow fit inside this cadence.
How does a systematised review process grow revenue while also satisfying Best Interests Duty requirements?
Under the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009, as amended by the Financial Sector Reform (Hayne Royal Commission Response) Act 2020, mortgage brokers are required to act in the best interests of their clients when providing credit assistance. A documented review process — one that assesses rate, product features, and loan structure against the client’s current goals — is simultaneously a revenue opportunity and the primary evidence file for Best Interests Duty compliance.
The remuneration landscape has already been reformed by legislation: clawback is capped at two years and cannot be passed to consumers; volume-based and campaign commissions are banned; upfront commissions are linked to the amount drawn down (Treasury, 2019–2020). The revenue case for a review is therefore client-benefit-led by design — the regulatory architecture has made it that way.
For 2026, this alignment matters more than it has at any prior point. ASIC conducted its first dedicated Best Interests Duty monitoring exercise in 2026, naming broker conduct, BID compliance, complaints handling and audit practices as priority areas for assessment (MFAA, 2026; Ashurst, 2026). BID breaches carry statutory penalties of up to $1.05 million per breach, and brokers cannot contract out of the obligation through disclosure or client consent (Gadens, 2024).
The brokers who will move through this environment without difficulty are the ones whose growth is built on documented client benefit. The review file that justifies a refinancing recommendation — showing rate, features, and structure compared against alternatives — is the same file that evidences BID compliance. The average successful client repricing has delivered a 0.35 percentage-point rate reduction (MPA, 2025a, citing MFAA) — a real, measurable outcome with a real client benefit at its centre.
Why do brokers who educate their clients retain them longer?
MFAA data shows brokers spend approximately 11% of their working time educating clients — a direct reflection of the fact that 41% of mortgage borrowers present with limited financial literacy (MPA, 2025a, citing MFAA). Brokers who invest in client education are not spending that time in addition to their core work — they are doing it. An educated client asks better questions, completes the refinancing process more efficiently, is less likely to be poached by a comparison site, and returns for the next transaction.
Laith Hana, ranked No. 2 in the 2025 Top 100 Brokers list, cites education, transparency and long-term value as the foundation of client loyalty — with proactive reviews and ongoing support after settlement as the mechanism that sustains it (MPA, 2025a). Jonathan Valentino describes a counterintuitive finding: even a declined loan application can deepen client loyalty when the broker uses the outcome as an educational moment, explaining what the client would need to change to achieve an approval in the future (MPA, 2025a).
The practical implementation is the content that fills the contact cadence from Tip 1. A newsletter article explaining what the RBA’s 2026 rate decision means for variable borrowers. A short explainer on how fixed rate roll-offs work and when a review makes sense. A brief summary of serviceability calculations and what a borrower can do to improve their position before applying. These are not supplementary activities — they are the recurring touchpoints that keep a broker’s name in a client’s inbox between formal reviews.
Mario Borg, a business success coach at Masters Broker Group, observes that the brokers who scale sustainably combine technology with genuine human relationships — technology handles the cadence, human expertise handles the complexity (MPA, 2025a).
How do the most successful Australian mortgage brokers manage their businesses differently?
In the 2025 Top 100 Brokers cohort, the average conversion rate was 82.57% — meaning for every five leads in the pipeline, more than four settled (MPA, 2025a). This is not primarily a sales skill: it is a function of qualified leads, efficient processing, and regular pipeline management. The entry threshold for the Top 100 was $143 million in settlements, up from $123 million in 2024. The cohort average was 294 loans settled per broker at an average loan size of $724,227 (MPA, 2025a).
The distinction between the top tier and the median is not lead volume — it is the proportion of time spent on income-generating activity. XIN Mortgage builds its internal systems specifically to protect this ratio: automation handles administrative tasks so brokers can concentrate on sales and relationship-building (MPA, 2025b).
James Veigli of Broker Profits Vault, who has coached mortgage brokers for more than 20 years, identifies six common patterns that restrict growth and a formula for reaching production targets by working smarter rather than harder (The Adviser, 2022). Jason Back of Broker Essentials reports that in high-performing brokerages, 75% of new business is driven by referrals — a result that only becomes achievable with a managed referral partner network (Broker Essentials, n.d.). Ruan Burger of Success and Broker coaches brokers to make an explicit pitch to referral partners so those partners know how to introduce the broker’s services to prospects (The Adviser, 2022).
The metrics worth tracking: conversion rate from contact to application, review cadence completion rate, referral source attribution, and average revenue per settled loan. A broker who tracks these four numbers consistently has a management dashboard. A broker who does not is operating on intuition alone.
How does an insurance referral partnership generate revenue and deepen client relationships?
Anja Pannek, CEO of the MFAA, identifies value-added service referrals as among the most effective diversification strategies for top-performing brokerages — expanding revenue streams while simultaneously deepening client relationships (MPA, 2025b). Insurance and protection referrals sit at the natural intersection of a mortgage broker’s work and their client’s financial vulnerability.
The moment a client settles or reviews a home loan is the moment their protection needs are most relevant. A new mortgage creates or increases the debt that life insurance and income protection insure against. A refinance often involves recalibrating loan structure — and an out-of-date insurance policy frequently accompanies an out-of-date loan. The systematic review from Tip 2 is the natural prompt for a protection conversation.
In Australia, the compliant model for mortgage brokers is referral-based: the broker introduces the client to a specialist insurance adviser, and the adviser conducts the needs analysis and provides personal advice (Insurance Business Australia, 2013). Mortgage brokers without a separate AFSL insurance authorisation cannot legally give personal insurance advice — under the Corporations Act 2001, a personal insurance recommendation requires a licensed financial adviser to conduct a full needs analysis and issue a Statement of Advice. The referral model requires no additional licence; it requires a trusted referral partner.
The quality of that partner matters significantly, for two reasons. First, the specialist’s service reflects on the broker who made the referral. Christopher Hall, AdvDipFP, Authorised Representative, AFSL 526688, has conducted more than 500 life insurance policy reviews for Australian families. In his experience, policies distributed through banks, lenders, or mortgage brokers rather than placed through a licensed insurance adviser are frequently white-labelled products that start at an accessible price point but compound significantly on stepped premiums over time — without any adviser present to prompt a market review. The loyalty tax accumulates undetected, and the policies that result can become orphaned policies — commissions still being paid, no ongoing professional managing the client’s cover. A broker who refers clients to a premium, human-led specialist rather than attaching a white-label product is doing something materially different for those clients.
Second, the right referral partner becomes part of the retention system. A specialist life insurance referral partner maintains an ongoing relationship with the referred client — reviewing cover as life changes, including when income, family structure, or property holdings shift. Those changes are also triggers for a loan review. A broker whose insurance partner proactively flags these moments reinforces the client’s connection to the original referring broker, not away from it. The referral loop becomes a retention asset.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Best Interests Duty for mortgage brokers in Australia?
The Best Interests Duty for mortgage brokers is a legal obligation under the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009, introduced following the Hayne Royal Commission. Brokers providing credit assistance are required to prioritise the client’s interests, consider a range of relevant loan options, and document the basis for their recommendations. The obligation is not satisfied by disclosure alone — it requires an individual assessment of the client’s circumstances and goals, with the documentation to support it.
What percentage of a mortgage broker’s pipeline comes from existing clients?
According to MFAA data cited in Mortgage Professional Australia’s 2025 Top 100 Brokers report, 44% of the typical broker’s pipeline comes from repeat clients and 28% from referrals — meaning 72% of new business originates from clients or relationships already within the broker’s network (MPA, 2025a, citing MFAA).
How many loans does a top-performing Australian mortgage broker settle per year?
Among the 2025 Top 100 Brokers cohort, the average was 294 loans settled per broker at an average loan size of $724,227. The minimum threshold to make the Top 100 list was $143 million in settlements — up from $123 million in 2024 and $113 million in 2023 (MPA, 2025a). The average conversion rate across the cohort was 82.57%.
Why should mortgage brokers refer clients to a life insurance adviser rather than placing insurance directly?
Under the Corporations Act 2001, personal insurance advice requires a formal needs analysis and Statement of Advice from a licensed financial adviser. Mortgage brokers without a separate insurance AFSL authorisation are not authorised to give personal insurance advice. The compliant model is a structured referral to a specialist insurance adviser — one who conducts the needs analysis, structures cover appropriately, and manages the client relationship over time. Policyholders with insurance arranged without ongoing adviser support are among those most likely to be paying materially more than current market rates, in Christopher Hall’s experience across 500+ policy reviews, without being aware the gap exists.
What is the 95:5 rule and how does it apply to mortgage broker client retention?
The 95:5 rule was developed by Professor John Dawes of the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute for Marketing Science and published in a 2021 paper for LinkedIn’s B2B Institute (Dawes, 2021). At any given moment, only approximately 5% of buyers are actively seeking to transact. For mortgage brokers, most of the back book is not currently in-market — but a proportion becomes in-market each year as fixed rates expire, equity builds, or life circumstances change. The strategic implication is that consistent contact across the whole book, rather than targeting only identified prospects, is what ensures a broker is present when each client’s refinancing moment arrives.
What does ASIC’s 2026 Best Interests Duty monitoring mean for mortgage brokers?
In 2026, ASIC conducted its first dedicated monitoring exercise focused specifically on Best Interests Duty since the obligation commenced on 1 January 2021 (MFAA, 2026). The exercise examines broker conduct, BID compliance, complaints handling, and audit practices. BID breaches carry statutory penalties of up to $1.05 million per breach, and brokers cannot contract out of the obligation through disclosure or client consent (Gadens, 2024). The practical preparation is a review process that is documented, consistent, and demonstrably client-benefit-led — the same process that makes a broker more competitive also makes the practice audit-ready.
Referring mortgage clients for specialist insurance advice
For eligible clients, an Arrow Equities insurance review is complimentary. The specialist insurance review for mortgage clients covers life insurance, income protection, and total and permanent disability (TPD) cover — assessed across a panel of leading Australian insurers by a specialist life risk insurance adviser.
About the AuthorChristopher Hall, AdvDipFP, is the principal financial adviser at Arrow Equities and an Authorised Representative under AFSL 526688. He has completed more than 500 life insurance policy reviews for Australian families, with a specialisation in life risk insurance.
Bibliography
# | Source | Type | Date |
1 | Mortgage Professional Australia — The 100 best mortgage brokers in Australia (Top 100 Brokers 2025). mpamag.com/au | Tier 2 — editorial | 2025 |
2 | Motimatic — The new rules of automotive marketing: a guide for 2026 and beyond. motimatic.com | Tier 2 — editorial | 2026 |
3 | Broker.com.au — Australia’s economic outlook March 2026: interest rates, mortgage brokers and the lending market. broker.com.au | Tier 2 — editorial | March 2026 |
4 | Dawes, J. (Ehrenberg-Bass Institute for Marketing Science) — Advertising effectiveness and the 95-5 rule: most B2B buyers are not in the market right now. The B2B Institute (LinkedIn) | Tier 2 — independent research | 2021 |
5 | Ehrenberg-Bass Institute for Marketing Science — The 95:5 rule is the new 60:40 rule. marketingscience.info | Tier 2 — independent research | 2025 |
6 | Mortgage Professional Australia — The best mortgage brokerages in Australia. mpamag.com/au | Tier 2 — editorial | 2025 |
7 | Treasury (Australian Government) — Mortgage broker best interests duty and remuneration reforms. treasury.gov.au | Tier 1 — regulatory | 2019–2020 |
8 | Mortgage and Finance Association of Australia (MFAA) — Brokers hear first ASIC update on best interests duty review at Looking Ahead 2026. mfaa.com.au | Tier 2 — independent research | 2026 |
9 | Ashurst — Emerging risks and ASIC’s focus on mortgage brokers: what banks and mortgage aggregators need to know. ashurst.com | Tier 2 — consulting/analytics | 2026 |
10 | Gadens — ASIC’s guidance to mortgage brokers on their best interests duty — time to act! gadens.com | Tier 2 — consulting/analytics | 2024 |
11 | Broker Essentials (Jason Back) — Australia’s best mortgage broker training & coaching. brokeressentials.com.au | Tier 2 — editorial | n.d. |
12 | The Adviser — New Broker Academy 2022 (Veigli, Burger, Saticieli). theadviser.com.au | Tier 2 — editorial | 2022 |
13 | Insurance Business Australia — Insurer strikes referral deal with mortgage broker. insurancebusinessmag.com/au | Tier 2 — editorial | 2013 |
Educational Disclaimer: This content is for educational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.
The information, opinions and other materials appearing on the Web Site are of a general nature only and shall not be construed as advice. Arrow Equities, AFSL 526688, ABN 87 645 284 680. This general information is educational only and not financial advice, recommendation, forecast or solicitation. Rose Bay Equities accepts no responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of the information, opinions or other materials provided on or accessible through the Web Site. The Web Site has not been prepared with reference to your individual financial or personal circumstances. You should not rely on any advice in this Web Site without first seeking appropriate professional, financial and legal advice. Further, where Rose Bay Equities makes third party material available or accessible through the Web Site you acknowledge that Rose Bay Equities is a distributor and not a publisher of that content and that its editorial control is limited to the selection of those materials to make available. We accept no liability for any loss or damages arising from use.
Comments