Ex-Wallaby David Giffin lands job with Centuria Bass as non-bank lender

Former Wallaby lock David Giffin has parlayed 20 years experience in the finance sector with a new job as a growing real estate player’s non-bank lender.

Former Wallabies vice-captain David Giffin is the new Centuria Bass Credit deputy CEO and co-head of lending. Picture: Daniel Sommer

Former Wallaby David Giffin will be focusing on new opportunities in Queensland and Western Australia as he aims to increase his company’s footprint in the booming non-bank lending sector.

Mr Giffin joined Centuria Bass Credit in December as deputy chief executive and co-head of lending, responsible for private lending origination and loan management across Australia and New Zealand.

Sydney-based Centuria Bass, which started in April 2021 as a joint venture between fund manager Centuria Capital Group and non-bank lender Bass Capital, has more than $2bn in assets under management, after expanding by more than 46 per cent during the 2024 calendar year.

The Queensland-born former lock, who played 50 Tests for Australia and was vice-captain of the team during the Wallabies’ victorious 1999 Rugby World Cup campaign, said the company was well placed to continue to grow at the same pace as last year.

“In the next three to five years we don’t thinks it’s unusual to target that sort of growth,” he said.

David Giffin playing for the Wallabies against Argentina in the 2003 Rugby World Cup. Picture: Mark Evans

A Redeemer Lutheran College, Brisbane old boy, Mr Giffin said Centuria Bass targeted the middle loan market of between $5m and $100m to enable developers to get shovels in the ground for new development projects and land subdivisions, as well as see projects come to fruition through bridging finance and residual stock loans.

The company is backed by the wholesale non-bank loan market in Australia and institutional money from global wealth management giant UBS.

As of September, geographical spread of Centuria Bass’s loan book by number of loans was NSW at 64 per cent, Victoria 17 per cent, Queensland 7 per cent, WA 5 per cent and New Zealand 1 per cent.

Mr Giffin said that, in terms of the business, Melbourne had been difficult, with a lack of funding opportunities, but the NSW and Queensland markets had been active.

“Our history and foundation has been in Sydney and Melbourne, so Queensland and Western Australia are seen as very strong opportunities, particularly Queensland, with the ­infrastructure projects and the Olympics coming in 2032,” he said. “I was born and raised in Queensland. I have a lot of contacts there — business and community — and it’s a market we’re going to focus on in the next 12 months.”

Bass Capital was founded by Nick Goh and Giles Borten in 2016, and they remain joint chief executives. Since the joint venture started, Centuria has increased its holding in the company to 80 per cent.

Since wrapping up his rugby career in 2004, Mr Giffin has ­focused on the private lending sector and found his way to Centuria Bass after selling Taurus Motor Finance — a business he co-founded and managed for more than five years — to Metrics Credit Partners at the end of 2023.

He said he worked his way to Centuria Bass having worked with Mr Goh at Allco Finance Group.

“I’m very familiar with how the private credit market has developed in Australia and I believe it has a significant role to play in property in terms of funding residential property,” Mr Giffin said.

“The guys who founded Bass did a great job establishing the platform and, with the assistance of Centuria, Centuria Bass is very well placed.

“Construction continues to be a challenge but we’re reasonably confident in terms of what the market looks like going forward.”

Mr Goh said it was a pleasure to welcome Mr Giffin to Centuria Bass.

“In the past 12 months alone, we have originated and refinanced more than 44 loans worth more than $960m,” he said.

“For our investors, this has translated into a 10 per cent IRR (Internal Rate of Return) on predominantly first mortgage opportunities over the year. We have also provided returns as high as 15.25 per cent on senior loans.”

Originally published as Ex-Wallaby David Giffin lands job with Centuria Bass as non-bank lender