Another thing to consider: MOC brokers would definitely be...

Another thing to consider: MOC brokers would definitely be providing finance regularly to people buying off developers, but are possibly relatively disadvantaged in getting referrals from developers. I would not be surprised if MOC's market share of financing new units in developments is lower than it is in the secondary housing market and refinances, due to the lack of a keen referral from the sales person.

A lot of the bigger developers arrange deals to refer to a recommended financiers - often brokers they have set up themselves, sometimes financial institutions, as they like to control or deeply understand the financing situation, and sometimes get a kickback or profit share of some sort for making the referral, or increase the profitability of their dealings with the lender they use.

Saying that - I am sure there will be developers who do refer based on their regard for the broker, without seeking any kickback.

MOC brokers are constrained a bit from dealing with big developers (but not with the customers at all obviously) firstly by receiving a lower commission to splash around, and secondly not being allowed to pay or receive any referral fees, unless something has changed since I last checked out all of their broker rules. The same goes for dealings with solicitors, conveyancers, accountants, builders etc.

MOC brokers also get paid the same I believe, no matter which lender on their panel is taken up. Many other finance providers could be more incentivised to try to sell a more expensive loan with a higher commission to try to cover the kickback cost, and just cherrypick the more naive customers (which is a riskier business strategy long term IMO, ignoring other issues).

This is a key disadvantage to MOC in one way, but it is a strong overally advantage that MOC has. A beneficial constraint maybe. The franchisees are not dependent on any third parties, and have to be better operators than the competitors on balance, and win referrals off clients, professionals and other businesses through being good operators. So the goodwill in the business is able to be internally generated. This has a network impact on the whole network of brokers as well. With the hurdles they face, Mortgage Choice is creating a very resilient breed of mortgage broker. I know some of these brokers, and they are great operators who put a high priority on looking after the clients, and getting them settled on time, and whatever else they do to gain customer referrals. I doubt there can be a franchisee who can focus on short-termist tricks and build a successful franchise, with these constraints.

I think the culture that has been created could be extremely successful for financial planning as well if it is replicated successfully, it seems to be growing. I know less about the financial planning arm, but would be surprised if it was culturally alien to the Mortgage Broking business.