John Joseph Symond is an Australian financial executive, the founder of Aussie Home Loans.
Early life
Symond was born on 17 August 1947 in Crookwell, New South Wales and raised in Sydney. He spent most of his time between Brisbane, where his mother's family lived, and Sydney, near his father's relatives. He was one of seven children and the son of Lebanese immigrant fruit shop owners, and regularly helped at his parents shop before and after school. He attended eleven different schools, including St Patrick's College, Strathfield, St Laurence's College, South Brisbane and Homebush Boys High School where he matriculated in 1965. After leaving school, Symond studied law and joined a firm in Bankstown where he learned conveyancing and specialised in property and finance. By the late 1980s, he had created a boutique financial services company, Mortgage Acceptance Corporation, that specialised in finding and providing commercial and investment loans to investors. One of Australia's first mortgage brokers, he eventually undertook a joint venture with a subsidiary of State Bank of South Australia, Beneficial Finance. When State Bank of South Australia went broke in the 1980s, he came within a whisker of bankruptcy, and it was this negative experience with a bank that formed the basis of the Aussie philosophy – offering better deals and better customer service to everyday Australians.
Supported by a $10,000 loan from his older brother Michael, he founded Aussie Home Loans in February 1992 and was able to fulfil his ambition. Symond was widely credited with bringing competition to the Australian home lending industry and was the first major disruptor to the banks oligopoly of the Australian home loan market. The company was unique in its approach to home loans, offering 24 hours a day service and loans far cheaper than those offered by banks. In 1994 Aussie introduced securitisation to its home loans, allowing it to offer loans upwards of 3% cheaper than its competitors. In 2002, Aussie Home Loans diversified to become a mortgage broker – offering bank and non-bank products. The company rapidly grew as consumers became aware of its products and that of other non-banks and the competition heated up. In August 2008 the Commonwealth Bank acquired a 33% stake in Aussie. Aussie acquired Wizard Home Loans in February 2009 and National Mortgage Brokers in 2012. The Commonwealth Bank increased its investment in Aussie from 33 per cent to 80 per cent in May 2013, then to 100 per cent in August 2017. Symond remains the Chairman of Aussie with his nephew James Symond, the Chief Executive Officer.
Personal life
Symond has two children, Stephen and Deborah. He has been involved with numerous organisations such as Jeans for Genes and is a former chairman of the Sydney Opera House Trust. Symond has been married to Amber McDonald since February 2016. He has a substantial collection of Australian art deco and contemporary art including works of Brett Whiteley and Sidney Nolan. In 2017 he took delivery of a Dutch built Feadship named Hasna, believed to have cost more than $100 million. Symond built a palatial home called Wingadal in the Sydney suburb of Point Piper that is now estimated to be worth over $100 million. He put it on the market in 2016 but withdrew it two months later in 2017. , The Australian Financial Review assessed Symond's net worth as 638 million, as published in the Financial Review Rich List 2019.
Awards
In 2002, he was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia. In 2004, he was inducted into the Australian Banking and Finance Magazine's Hall of Fame in May 2004 – the first non-banker to be admitted. In August 2011, he was listed eighth in a poll by The Australian Financial Review of the most influential business, economic and political leaders of the past 60 years. In August 2012, he was named Australian Father of the Year. In July 2013 he was honoured with the 2013 Gold Harold Humanitarian Award, at the sixth annual Gold Harold Awards, for his ongoing philanthropic interest in children's causes and charities.
