Loan Market's 2025 Professional Development Day Highlights Standout Year and Bold Growth Vision

Loan Market lays out its plans to become the best known mortgage advice firm in New Zealand.

Monday, December 1st 2025, 2:16PM

Loan Market brought its national network together in Auckland this month for its first annual Professional Development Day. Held at Ellerslie Event Centre and capped off with a festive celebration, the event united over 150 advisers and business partners from across the country for a day of insights, recognition, and future-focused strategy.

Celebrating a year of Serious Growth

The event opened with an impressive year-in-review, showcasing the collective success of the Loan Market family and honouring the many advisers whose achievements have been recognised on both national and global stages.

The power of community

Loan Market’s National Director, Nicole Ferguson, emphasised the unique strength of the Loan Market community. “Being a family-owned business, our values and culture of connection, collaboration, and peer support continue to set us apart.”

Alongside a full calendar of networking, recognition, and professional development events, initiatives such as Leading Ladies and Best Interest Mates are creating powerful new spaces for fresh conversations and deeper collaboration across the network.

Innovation at the forefront

With technology innovation a strategic priority, Loan Market showcased several major advancements introduced over the past year, including Dealboard, FileInvite, enhanced lender integrations, voice-to-text tools, an upgraded client ecosystem, and a new partnership with Cotality - each designed to streamline adviser workflows, strengthen efficiency and enhance the customer experience.

The group also reaffirmed its commitment to consumer protection, helping advisers embed compliance into their daily processes which align with the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) focus areas - fee transparency, product suitability, complaints handling, and client vulnerability care. Principal Security Consultant Laura Bennett led a session on elevating cybersecurity practices and building true business resilience beyond traditional IT safeguards.

Strategy spotlight: Growth for 2026 and beyond

Ferguson laid out a bold growth vision for the years ahead, challenging traditional models across lending, marketing, and technology to ensure Loan Market continues to lead from the front. She unveiled the four pillars underpinning the group’s largest-ever strategic investment programme:

Coaching & Development
Specialist Services
Brand & marketing
AI, tech & lender integrations

The coaching and development programmes are run by dedicated specialists within the company designed to give advisers and their teams clarity and focus for their business. These include Kaizen workshops, a 4DX Challenge series and a Profit Pulse Programme.

A key focus is diversification and enhanced referral opportunities in this post trail environment, highlighted by a new Ray White partnership programme launching in 2026. Ray White CEO Daniel Coulson shared his enthusiasm on stage as he discussed strengthening the partnership to create new value for customers and advisers alike.

A major investment in brand & market presence

Loan Market has started its crusade to make their brand a household name with its biggest marketing investment yet. In a rapidly evolving landscape where AI is reshaping trust and communication, the group is repositioning the brand with the customer at the centre of the Make It Yours campaign.

This is being executed through a powerful omni-channel strategy - social media, digital advertising, educational events, shopfront signage, billboards, radio, and more - aimed at making Loan Market the most trusted, visible, and chosen brand for Kiwi home buyers.

A glimpse into the future: AI, data, and the augmented adviser

Group Executive of Product, Technology & Data, Whitney Cali provided an exclusive look at MyCRM’s next evolution. Leading the 2026 rollout is My Note Writer, part of the MyCRM Intelligence suite, purpose-built to reduce admin pressure - the biggest challenge identified by advisers.

A recent Loan Market Group survey revealed:

62% of advisers lose a full day each week to admin
The bulk of this time goes to documentation collection, loan preparation, and lender research
Data accuracy, reliability, and privacy were the top AI concerns

Loan Market’s AI strategy is centred on empowering the "Augmented Adviser"- enhancing human capability with automation and insight, while preserving the personal relationships that define great advice.

The group also announced an exciting new partnership with Afterburner, bringing AI-driven automation, client-focused tools and game changing efficiencies to the network. With ISO 27001 certification expected by late 2025, Afterburner will meet the highest security standards before the full platform rollout to Loan Market advisers.

High-performance inspiration

Attendees were treated to a keynote from former All Blacks General Manager Darren Shand, who shared the Loan Market ABs Playbook - exploring what makes high-performing teams thrive, how leaders can navigate team dynamics, and how to build empowering environments that unlock peak performance.

Reaffirming the heart of Loan Market

Reflecting on the past year, Ferguson shared a message that resonated strongly across the room:

“For me, the last 12 months have been about bringing the spirit back to life here in New Zealand. Loan Market and Insurance Market aren’t just logos - they are a sense of family and community.

This network is defined by resilience, by our willingness to challenge the status quo, and by our unwavering commitment to fighting for our clients.

That is what it means to be Loan Market.”

A better business begins with Loan Market. Let’s talk about what’s possible. Find out more and get in touch.