Mortgage Broker

cmbaorigins MORTGAGEBROKER mbabc.ca summer 2015 | 39 What compelled a small group of seasoned brokers to launch the federally incorporated, not-for-profit Canadian Mortgage Brokers Association (CMBA) earlier this year? ey did it partly in response to one of the ongoing ironies of the mortgage brokerage industry – namely: despite their importance and success, the full range of activities brokers engage in remains a mystery to the average person on the street. Ajay Soni is president of the Mortgage Brokers Association of British Columbia, one of the three CMBA charter member associations. He notes that the MBABC was particularly inspired to create a better way to disseminate information to the public. "We estimate that we fund about $70 billion in mortgages in Canada annually, including commercial mortgages and private lending," he says. "Yet people still don't know our complete value proposition. at's a disconnect we needed to fix." CMBA is comprised of the collective members of three regional associations: the MBABC, the Independent Mortgage Brokers Association of Ontario (IMBA) and the Mortgage Brokers Association of Atlantic Canada (MBAAC). "Collective" is the operative word uttered frequently by this trio, because unlike the structure of many national associations, CMBA exists as an equal collaboration of the provincial associations, with the goal of sharing strategies and synergies, reducing repetition and maximizing efficiencies – all under a recently created national MB brand. "e provincial organizations control the national body, not the other way around," explains Samantha Gale, CEO of the MBABC. Such a structure effectively bypasses the problems that would arise in a typical national body that represented different-sized provincial bodies. "For example, we in Ontario have about 1,800 members," says IMBA president Raj Babber, "the MBABC has about 1,300 and the MBAAC, which was formed five years ago, has only 100 members – but because we drive CMBA instead of a central, national office, everyone has an equal voice." In many ways, CMBA can be thought of as a formal union of longtime partners, one that springboards their ideas across the country without compromising their benefit to provincial members. "We think it's the perfect vehicle to increase public awareness of what we do, and increased awareness will lead to an increase in market share for our members," says Soni. But how will public awareness be increased? Advertising is one strategy, and in B.C. the MBABC is featured almost weekly in the Province and Vancouver Sun and is preparing to launch a campaign on CBC and on Shaw Media in September. "Although this is a provincial initiative, because we're a part of CMBA other jurisdictions can take the creative content of the advertising we've developed if they so choose and use it in their own provinces instead of going to the expense and effort of developing their own campaign," explains Soni. Such exchanges are possible due to the newly minted MB brand. "It's a symbol that is recognizable from coast to coast," says Babber. "If one of our associations comes up with a marketing strategy that another association wants to adopt, very little will have to be changed because we all share the same brand. In addition to time and money savings, this has the added benefit of presenting a unified voice and messaging across Canada." CMBA co-founders are busy developing other aspects of the new association. "We're currently working on standardizing back- end functions, with the objective of creating a standard portal for event sign-up and provincial association membership renewal," says Gale. "Further down the road we'll enhance our online presence, and we're even thinking about opening an online store for clothing and accessories that promote the MB brand." A CMBA website was, at the time of this writing, being finalized. MBAAC president Janet McKeough, citing her association's small membership and composition of 100 per cent volunteers, notes that, "the response to CMBA has been very favourable. ough our sister organizations have always been a great support to us, getting the word out to both industry participants and mortgage consumers will be much easier under CMBA's unified efforts." As it evolves, CMBA can shed a national By Robin bRunet A New Age e newly formed Canadian Mortgage Brokers Association is shining a long-overdue spotlight on our industry, changing the way brokers do business in Canada

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