CBA-backed Lendi cuts jobs amid slowing home loan market

CBA-backed Lendi – which merged with Aussie Home Loans – has kicked off a sweeping restructure of its business, including axing up to 100 roles.

Commonwealth Bank-backed mortgage broker Lendi has kicked off a sweeping restructure of its business, including axing up to 100 roles as the home loan market continues to slow.

The redundancy round sees the exit of senior as well as more junior staff who officially finish at the company – which now includes Aussie Home Loans and Lendi – on Friday.

The cuts include Queensland state manager Cameron Baseley, Victoria and Tasmania state manager Glenn Edwards, chief executive of lending David Smith, business strategy manager Liz Fowler and head of operations and non-mortgage lending Brett Graham, three sources told The Australian.

Also being removed are a range marketing roles and that of NSW regional marketing manager Natasha Panetta and her small team, the sources said.

In response to a host of questions last week on the same topic, Lendi said it had announced a change to its operating structure to “support the group’s growth”. That was occurring as it completed the final phase of a migration of Aussie mortgage brokers and customers onto a combined platform.

Lendi chief executive David Hyman on Thursday declined to disclose the quantum of the job cuts, but said the group had maintained 240 Aussie stores, and had increased staff numbers on a net basis by hundreds of roles since the Aussie merger in 2021.

Lendi’s new structure comprises three core divisions spanning experience, distribution and customer.

Mr Hyman admitted the creation of the new structure replaced some operational teams.

“While this has had an impact on some roles, the change has also opened up dozens of new roles across the group,” he said.

But sources described this month’s round of job cuts as “inhumane … and very cut-throat” as some employees facing redundancy were asked to ship back their equipment at their own expense. That was requested by management before outgoing staff would receive their payout, and then later a reimbursement for the shipping costs.

Those impacted by the cuts received communication last week asking they attend a meeting, and to bring a support person if they required.

The sharp job cuts come two years after online broker Lendi merged with larger group Aussie. CBA, ANZ and Macquarie Group all separately own respective stakes in Lendi, with CBA being the largest of the bank shareholders.

Lendi, led by David Hyman, is overhauling its operations as the home loan market slows in the wake of nine interest rate hikes. Picture: Jane Dempster/The Australian

Under the initial merger terms, Matt Comyn-led CBA said it would continue to hold a large minority stake in the combined Lendi-Aussie group and provide funding for the Aussie Select branded loan product. The bank had previously owned 100 per cent of Aussie after buying it from John Symond in tranches.

An email, obtained by The Australian, told Lendi staff: “Some Lendi Group team members have been affected by this new structure, and we ask for your support, whilst we work through this process,” it said. The memo was authored by head of distribution Brad Cramb and general manager Aaron Hockey.

The sweeping restructure also includes the closure of a key Aussie office in Parramatta.

On that topic, Mr Hyman said: “As a result of the lease expiry on this space, a review was undertaken on this site and the utilisation of this site is under 15 per cent on a monthly basis. Given these circumstances, and in combination with our flex first policy, we’ve made the decision to close this location.”

The latest Lendi accounts lodged with the corporate regulator, show the group posted a $2.5m loss for the 12 months ended June 30, widening from a loss of $87,432 in the year earlier period. Net revenue rose to $182.3m last fiscal year, as expenses swelled to $228.5m.

That compared to $53.5m in revenue in the prior period. The accounts for that entity show it houses 920 employees.

Other corporate filings show Lendi has been busily restructuring its share capital.

Lendi also operates a home loan joint venture with listed real estate platform Domain, as it seeks to snag borrowers looking for new lending or to refinance.

Domain‘s results for last fiscal year showed the venture had $9.4m in revenue, but suffered a $4.3m earnings before interest, tax, amortisation loss.

Lendi has also had a tumultuous period in the past six months as it has focused on bedding down the Aussie transaction and navigating a slowing mortgage market.

Lendi told staff in November that two of its four founders would be leaving the group, due to differing management approaches.

Chief product officer Mark Kalajzich departed late last year, while Martin Lam is overseeing the delivery of a program called Aussie Ready before leaving on June 30.

In November, Lendi was also seeking to assuage concerns over potential changes to its commission sharing arrangements and systems issues, after its technology was plagued by an outage.

Emails at the time, obtained by The Australian, highlighted the seriousness of the outage, which left mortgage brokers unable to submit loans to lenders.

Mortgage brokers account for about 70 per cent of all new home loans written in Australia. The mortgage market has, however, been challenged by slowing credit growth and declining house prices as the Reserve Bank hiked the official rate nine times since May.