James Symond departs Aussie Home Loans

Aussie Home Loans CEO James Symond is stepping down after six years in the top job.

Aussie Home Loans CEO James Symond is leaving the company after 30 years. Picture: Britta Campion

Aussie Home Loans chief executive James Symond is stepping down after six years in the top job, heading for the exit as the mortgage broker’s merger with peer Lendi is in its final stages.

Mr Symond’s unexpected departure marks the end of a 30-year career at Aussie, much of it spent working alongside his uncle and Aussie founder, John Symond.

His move comes months after Commonwealth Bank, which owns Aussie, announced that it had entered into an agreement to merge the broker with Lendi.

Under the terms of the deal structure, which has received regulatory approval, Lendi investors will hold 55 per cent in the joint business, while CBA will hold 45 per cent.

The merger will create a group with a combined loan book of more than $77bn and about 1200 brokers.

Lendi co-founder and CEO David Hyman is expected to take on the top job at the merged entity once the deal is completed.

Under the younger Mr ­Symond, Aussie increased its loan book to $70bn through a network of 1000 brokers and 220 stores around the nation.

“I am extremely proud of what Aussie has achieved over the past three decades,” Mr Symond said. “We established a culture, systems and processes that really help mortgage brokers and their families succeed. The business is strong and, kept on the same growth path, will continue to strongly prosper in the future.”

Commenting on Mr Symond’s departure, Lendi’s Mr Hyman said the Symond family had built “a great business” over the past three decades.

“We look forward to building on Aussie’s strong foundations as we bring the businesses together with best in class systems, technology and processes to ensure continued growth for decades to come,” Mr Hyman said.

John Symond in November retired as chairman of Aussie Home Loans, 28 years after he founded the business and revolutionised the home loan market.

Establishing Aussie Home Loans in the wake of the 1990 recession, Mr Symond up-ended the home loan market by offering loans at a significantly cheaper rate than the big banks.

The broker’s well-known slogan, “We’ll save you”, used in ­advertisements in the 1990s, ­established Aussie and Mr ­Symond as a household name.

After years of disrupting the banks, Mr Symond between 2008 and 2017 progressively sold the business to CBA for about $660m in stock and cash.