Revealed – winners of the 2025 New Zealand Mortgage Awards (2025)

New Zealand’s mortgage sector came together last night (April 10) to celebrate the achievements of professionals and businesses at the 2025 New Zealand Mortgage Awards, held at the Auckland War Memorial Museum.

Organised by NZ Adviser, the annual awards highlight the contributions of advisers, brokerages, lenders, aggregators, business development managers, and administrative professionals across the country.

Structured selection process

This year’s awards followed a five-step assessment model. Nominations were accepted through an open online portal, allowing for self-nomination and peer entries across multiple categories. Nominees were evaluated based on their performance from October 2023 to October 2024.

Editorial teams conducted background checks and research to validate submissions before shortlisting excellence awardees.

The finalists were then reviewed by a panel of independent judges from across the mortgage and finance sectors. Judges scored submissions confidentially, and the top-scoring individual in each category was announced as the winner during the awards ceremony and online.

Individual achievements

Eugene Bartsaikin of Twine Financial Advisers was named Adviser of the Year – Residential, sponsored by Pepper Money.

Brendan Brits, representing Loan Market Coast to Coast, earned the Adviser of the Year – Regional title, backed by Xceda.

Adviser Satyan Mehra of iConsult received multiple accolades, including Adviser of the Year – Specialist Lending (sponsored by Avanti Finance) and Commercial Mortgage Adviser of the Year. Mehra also received the Liberty Adviser of the Year award, which consolidates top recognition across adviser categories.

Other individual awards included:

• Dean Rushby of Mike Pero Mortgages, recognised as Loan Administrator of the Year; and
• Shaihnaz Kaur of Kaur Mortgages & Services, who was awarded New Adviser of the Year, sponsored by First Mortgage Trust.

Recognition for BDMs went to:

• Nicky Skinner of Westpac (Link Financial Group Best Bank BDM);
• Mark Nolan from Avanti Finance (NZFSG Best Non-Bank BDM); and
• Warwick Slow from Kiwi Adviser Network (Bizcap Best Aggregator BDM).

Brokerage and company recognition

The Mortgage Girls secured two wins:

• Best Customer Service of an Individual Office (sponsored by Basecorp Finance)
• Brokerage of the Year – 6+ Staff (sponsored by Prospa).

Guardian Smith Mortgage and Financial Services took top honours in the Kiwi Adviser Network Brokerage of the Year 1-5 Staff category, while My Mortgage received the award for best regional brokerage.

Blueprint Finance was recognised as the Finsure New Zealand New Brokerage of the Year, less than two years into its operations.

Kiwi Adviser Network was acknowledged as Innovator of the Year for its work in streamlining operations and client engagement.

NZ Financial Services Group (NZFSG) was named FAMNZ Aggregator of the Year, an award open to aggregators of all sizes operating in New Zealand.

In the lending categories, ANZ New Zealand was awarded Finbase Lender of the Year among banks, while First Mortgage Trust received the non-bank equivalent.

Congratulations to all the winners! See the full list of winners and excellence awardees by checking out the 2025 NZ Mortgage Awards website.