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REA Group has revealed that its broker businesses, Mortgage Choice and Smartline, will soon become operational under one brand.
A statement from the property marketing giant revealed that the Smartline brand will be phased out, with Mortgage Choice to be retained.
REA Group officially acquired Mortgage Choice on 1 July 2021.
The decision to move all brokers across to the Mortgage Choice brand was made after conducting extensive brand research among consumers and brokers, according to Janelle Hopkins, REA Group’s chief financial officer and chief executive officer, financial services.
She said it was evident that moving forward with the Mortgage Choice brand would best position the business for future success.
“For almost 30 years, Mortgage Choice has been a nationally recognised and trusted brand among consumers, synonymous with financial services. Uniting all our brokers under the Mortgage Choice brand will support REA’s ambition to create Australia’s leading franchise broking business,” Ms Hopkins expressed.
While the strategy will retain the Mortgage Choice name, she explained that the REA Group “will leverage the best of the Smartline and Mortgage Choice networks to strongly position over 900 brokers for sustained success under the combined business”.
“We see significant opportunities to link REA’s digital capabilities, property insights, and highly engaged audience with our broker network, positioning Mortgage Choice as the leading proposition in market for anyone considering joining a franchise network,” the CFO and CEO commented.
The transition to one brand – and one platform – will take place from February 2022.
“We know our brokers are time-poor when it comes to running their businesses and responding to the increased demand for their services. The transition will include rebranding support across the franchise network and a comprehensive training program to ensure minimal disruption to our broking network,” said Mortgage Choice CEO Susan Mitchell.
The brand streamlining will also see the combined business move to one broking system, Broker Platform – software originally developed and used by Mortgage Choice for the past four years.
“We are pleased to be able to give our franchise networks certainty around such core elements of their businesses. These are the first major steps in our integration process that will support our ongoing future success,” Ms Hopkins concluded.
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