Company lands top award

MTF Finance has been voted business of the year by the Otago Daily Times. 

The honour comes after also winning the excellence in marketing category at The Grand Business South Awards and taking out the KangaNews’ New Zealand securitisation deal of the year.

Chris Lamers, chief executive, believes the Dunedin-founded operation has shown that it has a “great business model” and it has been able to help more Kiwis because it’s so close to its customers. 

He describes 2023 as a “watershed” year for the company during which there has been a 40 per cent increase in lending growth and 38 per cent rise in profitability.

MTF Finance’s community-based lending model, in which its franchises and vehicle dealers make lending decisions, has also notched up record low arrears at less than half the industry average. It has also invested in better technology to help provide a service clients wanted, says Lamers, pictured.

“Being close to the community, helping customers and providing great service is more important than worrying about margins. “We found this year, if you do that, everything else follows,” he told the Otago Daily Times.

While vehicles account for 85 per cent of the company’s work, Lamers wants MTF Finance to be seen as a viable alternative to banks and is also launching the brokering of home loans through its franchise network.

Having joined the business in mid-2022, Lamers, who divides his time between Dunedin and Auckland, adds he feels like he’s “just starting”, while MTF Finance is keen to work with other businesses to tell “the Dunedin story”. Click here to read the ODT’s full story.