The town of Bowen in northeast Queensland is renowned for its Kensington Pride mangoes, mining exports and perhaps more recently, as the principal setting in Baz Luhrmann’s much-anticipated offering Australia.

While Challenger’s Steve Weston is not as synonymous with his place of birth as some of the town’s more recent patrons – namely Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman – the indent he has carved on mortgage lending in Australia has certainly made an impression.

 

It was the mid-1980s when Weston left school at 15 years of age to begin work in the development program of the Commonwealth Bank, a world away from blue-collar family ties.

 

“They were builders and were driving nails and I wanted to be out of the heat… I chose the air-conditioning and did an entrance selection exam with the CBA,” he says.

 

Weston worked at the bank’s Bowen branch for a couple of years before transferring to nearby Townsville, and without comprehending it at the time, the move earmarked a fruitful tenure in lending.

 

The Townsville opportunity proved an attractive option, as there was direct exposure to the processes of lending, but, while stationed there, Weston received an offer to play rugby league in the UK and decided to relocate.

 

His short stint in banking, however, resonated within Weston and he soon realised his competitive skills were better geared for life in the office rather than on the football field.

 

“I wasn’t very good. I could’ve stayed on to play for a Sydney equivalent side but I knew my ability was going to hold me back and I was getting beaten around,” he says.

 

On his return from the UK, Weston resumed work with the CBA in Sydney's northern beaches branch, where he developed many of his formative banking skills. Although he was not a specialist in any particular area of the bank, he obtained a solid grasp of the overriding banking principles and systems.

 

In 1995 Weston moved on from the CBA to start a post with St.George as a relationship manager.

 

At the same time, he undertook tertiary studies by correspondence, eventually obtaining an MBA, an achievement Weston says was quite a feat for someone who just scraped by in school.

 

He progressed quickly at St.George, helping it establish a business banking venture on the NSW central coast, and he was soon head-hunted by an existing client to sift through their ineffective businesses and restore it back to health.

 

He did this for a further three years, focusing on what undertakings were needed in order for the business to work better, and admits the arduous nature of this task reaped personal returns.

 

“It was hard work, hard yakka, but the learning was enormous. I learnt commercial skills, really started to understand the importance of people and that the people within a business really had the answers,” he says.

 

In doing so, he developed the belief that he could redeploy these attributes back into a banking capacity which, as luck would have it, was followed soon after by St.George again offering him a new contract, albeit in senior management form.

 

His second coming with the bank involved a series of roles, the last being a general manager role for the state of Queensland, one he describes as the best he has ever had.

 

“It was a bit of an experiment role and it worked very, very well,” he says.

 

 

Being stationed in Queensland was how Weston met Brian Benari, CEO of Challenger Mortgage Management, while having lunch at a restaurant on the Brisbane River one afternoon.

 

A week later, Weston had signed on with the financial services colossus.

 

In recalling the particulars of that meeting, Weston recalls that they were both trading entrepreneurial stories about the state of the industry, its culture and the people involved.

 

“It wasn’t until after I’d joined the penny dropped that that was actually my job interview. We talked at a million miles an hour. He was telling me about the plans ahead,” he says.

 

Despite Weston’s pleas that his role at St.George was fulfilling and professionally gratifying, Benari persisted with phone calls over the proceeding few days until the deal was ultimately cinched.

 

Three years on from his foray into the non-bank realm and with some 20 years of banking experience under the belt, Weston is suitably positioned to comment on the evolution of the mortgage industry.

 

As general manager, residential and commercial lending, at Challenger mortgage management, Weston’s overarching view of the industry continues to be shaped by the idea that distribution dictates product.

 

He cites the exponential rise of the mortgage broker as one of the more significant changes to impact on the composition of the broader market, in addition to the competitive alternatives to come in the form of non-banks.

 

“If you were going for a home loan in the mid-1980s, you’d wait a week to get an interview with your bank manager and the bank manager was the authoritative figure,” he says.

 

“Today, a broker or mobile lender will see you 24/7 – you don’t wait and they can give you a fair indication on the spot,” he says.

 

According to Weston, home loan products are also more sophisticated now, driven by improvements to service levels.

 

The fact that consumers no longer require a deposit reflects a 180 degree change, he says, describing such developments as somewhat unique to the Australian business community.

 

“I can’t think of another industry that’s changed as much in 20 years – it’s remarkable,” he says.

 

The demystification of the lending process, particularly in the case of a first homebuyer, is largely attributed to the proliferation of the broking sector, which has provided consumers with choice.

 

“Without brokers, it would be the same old offer at the high rate and product innovation would’ve lagged,” he says.

 

Despite his seniority in the industry, Weston’s country roots are evident when he reveals that broking has never been too far removed from his agenda, displaying few reservations at the prospect.

 

“I’m not sure how well I’d go but I’d do it at a pinch, I’d do it tomorrow,” he says.

 

 

Broking ambitions aside, Weston now has much larger fish to fry.

 

Typical of a life raised on the land, he works odd hours.

 

As the first to arrive in the Sydney CBD office, he dedicates the quiet time to sifting through his e-mail inbox, reading through files, and preparing for meetings with clients and internal staff at 9am.

 

As a husband and father to two young girls, he admits the hardest aspect of the role is not the funding situation or scheduling commitments, but leaving behind his family – time, he says, you don’t get back.

 

“I try to get home at a reasonable hour, my wife would say that often doesn’t work but that’s the idea. My wife shakes her head at my hours and says she doesn’t know how I do it, but when you love what you do it’s easy,” he says.

 

Challenger’s acquisition of aggregator Choice and increased stakes in PLAN and FAST has afforded the group much publicity of late.

 

Weston was not directly involved in the negotiation process of these endeavours so will not comment on the deal itself, but the feedback has for the most part been positive, with many pundits trying to understand the strategy behind the move, and whether the likes of Weston and Benari are already plotting the next turn.

 

“I travel regularly, and there are always plenty of questions being asked: ‘What are you guys doing?’” he says.

 

Time will tell if such consolidation proves profitable, however, an early indication of success could be conjectured through the sheer buzz created by the acquisitions.

 

As Weston points out, there is rarely an article or segment produced which does not have some reference to the wider Challenger network.

 

“In my banking days, Challenger flew well off the radar in terms of mortgages. I’d never heard of Challenger. I knew it would get a reaction and from that day on we’d forever be on the radar and that’s exactly how it turned out,” he says.

 

Despite all the attention gained by the aggregator deal, Weston insists it is business as usual so far as competition goes within the three organisations.

 

The acquired aggregators have the same number of lenders on their panel and, according to Weston, it would be naïve of Challenger to believe brokers would desert others in their favour.

 

Brokers working underneath those umbrella brands are independent enough to question a group encouraging volume to their product, and it goes against their advocacy to the consumer, he believes.

 

The true advantage of having an owner with the capital backing, Weston says, lies in those brokers negotiating with banks, and working through the confines of regulatory processes.

“We can make sure the end proposition and competition is as fierce and the regulation is as workable as it can be,” he says.

 

The prospect of another group staking the same level of intent in the broker market is unlikely, however Challenger’s lending tier is certainly heavily contested.

 

ING Direct, Macquarie Bank and, to a lesser degree, Adelaide Bank, all rival Challenger’s wholesale arm.

 

Volume-wise, Weston estimates that the Challenger business, whether it be aggregator originated or lending based, reaches one in five Australian mortgages.

 

He believes the CBA is there, too, and while it represents significant penetration in any market, the focus is primed towards leveraging off that existing stake, as opposed to building on it.

 

“We don’t want to get to three in five (mortgages), but we do want to make sure that one in five is market leading,” he says.

 

The advantage of scale is best reflected by cost-effectiveness, and it is Weston’s job to enhance that proposition.

A retrospective glance back to the young man in socks and no tie, embarking on a 20-year-plus career in finance puts Weston in a dreamy state of nostalgia.

 

From a modest beginning in the CBA’s Bowen branch, to overseeing a $30bn home loan book and 1,000 odd staff at St George and now his role at Challenger, Weston is far from nonchalant about his dream run.

 

“I would never have believed it,” he says.

 

The next chapter in his corporate life is a mystery to Weston, although he is relishing the current role and believes there is work to be done yet.

 

As hierarchy goes, the natural progression is to that of CEO, but Weston is coy about the prospect of stepping into the formidable boots of his good friend, Benari.

 

As raw and humble as country kids often are, Weston has solidly maintained the lessons and principles of his youth spent in regional Queensland, applying the traits of fairness and a robust work ethic to Challenger’s lending domain.

 

“I’ve always said I’d work as hard and as smart as I could and I’d treat everyone I came into contact with as fairly as I could and, no matter what I ended up doing, I could always look back and say I couldn’t have done that any better or fairer,” he says.

 

He considers the journey thus far to be a fortunate one; however, he rarely has the time to contemplate the next career move, preferring to devote it to his young family.

 

Away from the confines of the Challenger walls, he enjoys playing tennis with his wife, and exercises in the park with work associates every week – activities where the BlackBerry is out of reach.

 

But all factors considered, if he were to step down from the role tomorrow, would he be satisfied with the legacy left behind?

 

“Absolutely, no doubt,” he says.