| John Symond | |
|---|---|
| Born | 17 August 1947 |
| Occupation | Executive Chairman Aussie |
John Symond (born. 17 August 1947) is an Australian businessman. He is best known as the founder of Aussie Home Loans.
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John Symond was born on 17 August 1947 in Crookwell, New South Wales and raised in Sydney, Australia. Growing up he spent most of his time between Brisbane, where his mother's family lived, and Sydney, near his father's relatives. Symond was one of seven children and the son of Lebanese immigrant fruit shop owners. He regularly helped at his parents shop before and after school and credits them for his strong work ethic.
He attended eleven different schools during his childhood, including St Patrick's College, Strathfield, St Laurence's College, South Brisbane and Homebush Boys High School where he matriculated in 1965. After leaving school, Symond studied law and joined a firm in Bankstown where he learned conveyancing. Symond became specialised in property and finance and gained a solid reputation for his ability to find various forms of funding for people looking to buy a home.
By the late 1980s he was financially secure and had created a boutique financial services company, Mortgage Acceptance Corporation (MAC). The company specialised in finding and providing commercial and investment loans to small time investors. One of Australia's first mortgage brokers, he eventually undertook a joint venture with a subsidiary of State Bank of South Australia, Beneficial Finance.
However when State Bank of South Australia went broke in the 1980s, Symond found himself owing a vast amount of money to creditors. He managed to strike a deal to dodge bankruptcy and through sheer determination and hard work was eventually able to pay back 50c in the dollar across all his creditors.
Motivated by a will to succeed, Symond turned the disaster into an opportunity and began working on realising his dream of creating a home loan company.
Supported by a $500,000 loan from his older brother, Symond founded Aussie Home Loans in February 1992. Driven by his own personal experience, the company was unique in its approach to home loans, offering 24 hours a day service based on a promise to give ordinary Mums and Dads a fair go. The company campaigned against the big four banks with Symond coining the "we'll save you" line that has now become part of the home loans lexicon.
In 1994 the company joined up with PUMA, a subsidiary of Macquarie Bank which allowed it to introduce the securitisation of their home loans. This method of financing allowed Aussie to offer loans to owner-occupiers and take on the banks head-to-head.
The company grew rapidly as consumers became aware of its products and banks were forced to copy Symond's methods as their market share diminished. With banks forced to lower interest rates and fees, home ownership was suddenly a possibility for a whole new generation of Australians. Aussie had created an entire non-bank industry with a whole host of companies mimicking Symond, Wizard Home Loans and RAMS being two of the more high-profile examples.
In 2002, the company under Symond's guidance re-invented itself as a mortgage broker, selling both its own products as well as the banks. As of 2011, Aussie had a loans portfolio of more than A$40 billion, over 750 brokers nationwide and approximately 550 - 1000 employees. Recently John repositioned himself as Executive Chairman of the group.
John Symond has two children, Stephen and Deborah and places a strong emphasis on his family life. He is well known for his philanthropy due to his own experience of doing it tough and has been involved with numerous organisations such as Jeans for Genes, Sydney Children's Hospital, Children’s Medical Research Institute and Friends of St Vincent’s Private.
Symond has a love of Australian art deco and contemporary art which has led to a substantial collection, including works from Brett Whiteley and Sidney Nolan. He is also extremely passionate about boating and owns a 90-foot Sunseeker called Xanadu.
Symond at a senate inquiry in December 2010 stated that he is a "bipartisan" voter and that "Over the last 10 years, I have voted equally both sides of parliament".[1]
In 2002 he was presented with a Member of the Order of Australia Award.
In recognition of his services to the industry, John was inducted into the Australian Banking and Finance Magazine’s Hall of Fame in May 2004 — the first non-banker to join the prestigious group of members.
In August 2011, Symond was listed eighth in the The Financial Review's poll of the most influential business, economic and political leaders of the past 60 years. He and Rupert Murdoch were the only two that still held the positions that made them famous.