“Two goals in life – put a roof over your head and retire comfortably. Everyone in Australia is entitled to that, not just the privileged few,” says financial services impresario Mark Bouris, who is putting his money where his mouth is with a game-changing plan to offer cheaper mortgages. Yellow Brick Road – the company founded by Bouris in 2007 – this week teamed up with Macquarie Bank to take on the Australia’s Big 4 banks in the mortgage market.
The move comes after Yellow Brick Road signed an Origination Agreement with Macquarie to develop branded banking and wealth management services. In a deal that could save mortgage holders hundreds of thousands of dollars, Macquarie will provide Bouris’ network of 140 outlets the financial clout to compete with the likes of Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, NAB and ANZ.
“This venture is about bringing back choice, access and competition like there was in the 90’s,” Bouris told media in a statement.
“Plenty of commentators, including politicians, talk about the need for competition, but there is only one way that is going to happen and that is Yellow Brick Road taking the initiative. This is a game-changer that will take the big four head on.”
Yellow Brick Road’s immediate move was to offer a 1.15 per cent per annum discount off the base rate of 6.65 per cent for the first 12 months on residential home loan products. After that a further discount off the base rate of up to 0.86 per cent pa is guaranteed for the life of the loan. Yellow Brick Road says that the rate offered, unlike the banks’, is not restricted “to the chosen few”, and that all applicants will get a discounted rate irrespective of what position they hold in the world.
With Macquarie’s backing, Bouris is now in a position to challenge the Big 4’s control of the mortgage industry and has attacked what he calls “preferential treatment to the privileged”. “Who makes that call? Who decides who should be favoured?” said Mr Bouris. “Yellow Brick Road isn’t playing favourites. Every Australian who successfully applies for this loan receives the discount.”
“Lower mortgage rates give people the opportunity to save more, which will provide them with a better retirement in the future. That coupled with quality financial advice for all Australians, not just the privileged few, is our proposition. That’s what we’re about.”
During the late 1990s and early 2000s Bouris first took on the major lenders by creating Wizard Home Loans which he later sold to GE Money for around $500 million.
