Billion dollar baby

Tauranga-based First Mortgage Trust has reached a significant milestone which further cements the Trust’s position as New Zealand’s largest non-bank first mortgage provider.

The Trust has over 4,600 investors and receives investor enquiry from all parts of the country.

Chief executive Tony Kinzett said that the growth in investor funds reflects the organisation’s strong history of protecting investor capital and delivering better than bank returns, with most new investors now coming via word of mouth referral.

Equally pleasing, he noted that many of the trust’s former borrowers had repaid the confidence shown in them, by coming back to the trust as investors themselves.   

“The trust has consistently delivered solid returns based on well-considered commercial, industrial, residential and rural property loans, secured by first mortgages, primarily located in the economic strongholds of New Zealand” he said. 

“With borrowers coming back as investors, and the knowledge that current investors are referring others, it shows that we are taking care of people and their requirements at a very high level.”

FMT chairman Michael Smith, said that reaching the $1 billion figure marks the trust as a true success story.

"The trust’s financial growth has depended on its resolute conservative approach and the respect we’ve shown for our investors’ trust and confidence. Year after year, First Mortgage Trust has gone from strength to strength, both in terms of serving our investors and in meeting the needs and aspirations of borrowers. Our unwavering operational care and prudent risk management underpin both arms of our business and I am delighted that our investors and borrowers benefit from this.”

Both Kinzett and Smith took the opportunity to acknowledge the First Mortgage Trust team and their commitment to customer deliverables, with Kinzett noting that growth has never been pursued simply for growth’s sake. 

“While it’s always satisfying to reach milestones such as this, we would never look to grow simply for the sake of it.  The business fundamentals always come first,” he said.

Looking to the future, Kinzett said the aim  is to now build on the capability and capacity that the growth offers, to keep making good decisions, and to ensure that the organisation is optimally structured in a post-Covid environment. 

“That means working smarter to ensure our client engagement and business performance are second-to-none. We want our investors and borrowers to continue to stay loyal and to tell our good news story to others”, he said.

The milestone comes at an important time in the organisation’s history, with next year marking the Trust’s 25-year anniversary since opening its Head Office in Tauranga in 1996.