Loan Market celebrates Women in Finance for IWD

While the number of women in broking dropped to an all-time low last year, LMG bucked the industry trend to welcome a 22% increase in the number of women across its network.

While the MFAA found women accounted for only 25.5% of the broker community in the six months to October, Loan Market continues to grow its representation of women in the network:

• 29% of all Loan Market brokers;
• 48% of all Loan Market members;
• 68% of all support specialists.

Aggregator LMG - the home of the innovative Leading Ladies of Loan Market initiative - will celebrate its women in the lead-up to 2023’s International Women’s Day (Wednesday, 8 March) with many events featuring its talented women.

Suzi Trajanovski, National Director of Growth at LMG and President of Leading Ladies of Loan Market, said the program of events would be inspiring for women - as well as men - who wanted to find out how their peers are doing extraordinary things in broking.

Ms Trajanovski was a trailblazer herself - one of the first-ever female BDMs at a lender when she started in finance 19 years ago.

“I think women have come a long way in broking since those early days,” she said. “About one in three business owners in Loan Market are now women.

“Women are just as capable and driven as men as brokers and business owners. But additionally, I also think it’s important for the marketplace that the industry offers a healthy representation of female brokers.

“One of the things that female brokers encounter is requests from female customers who feel a little more comfortable talking to another woman, especially if this is the first time applying for finance.”

Ms Trajanovski said the importance of female brokers had come to the fore in the last decade as relationships broke down and women found themselves on new personal journeys.

“One of the fastest growing segments of homelessness in Australia is older women who have divorced later in life. In the marriage, the husband may have handled the finances and they have little idea about debt, budgeting and other essentials.

“These female customers often feel more comfortable telling their story to another woman.”

Amongst the program next week will be online ‘Thrive’ events featuring inspiring women in the network:

• Monday - Mel Wright and Emma Madafferi: Personal journeys to creating successful businesses.
• Tuesday - Carol King, Nicola Cranswick, Karen Hecht and Megh Castledine: Equity for female clients.
• Wednesday - Evelyn Clark, Maddie Walton and Katherine Persoglia discuss thought leadership, education and wellness.
• Thursday - Sarah Thomson and Damien Roylance discuss creating pathways and progress for women in the workplace.

Additionally, many Loan Market businesses have been holding their own IWD events around Australia, including:

EVERLEND, Friday 3 March Property Before Prada, Albury, Friday 10 March (sold out) and Melbourne, Friday 17 March Entourage.