The billion dollar man
A billion dollars is a significant landmark by any reckoning. Even more so in a small country at the bottom of the world whose entire population wouldn’t even fill a suburb of many an Indian metropolis.
But achieving this magical figure right here in Auckland is Ajay Kumar. Since starting his financial advisory and services business – Global Financial Services – in the city not so long ago, he has successfully exceeded the coveted one billion dollar figure in the total amount of mortgages he has helped banks deploy to his ever growing list of clients.
It is the first time that an Indian mortgage broking house or an Indian individual has achieved such a distinction in New Zealand.
The self-effacing Mr Kumar, however, would rather underplay this achievement. “My philosophy has always been to deliver better value and services to my customers, by empowering them with all the vital information and working with them to make intelligent and practical financial decisions,” he says.
“I am not sure if this billion dollar milestone adds more value to my customers in any substantial way. I’d therefore rather not talk about it and instead see how the goodwill that it has created can be harnessed to deliver even better service,” he adds.
In his characteristically modest style, Mr Kumar attributes his company’s success to the support and faith that his customers have reposed in it. “Every success is attributable to customers and customers alone,” he says.
“In any business where there is competition, the quality of service becomes the differentiator and that is what makes a customer most happy.”
Mr Kumar began his career in banking in India way back in the 1970s and recalled what a banking trainer had told him in his early days when he asked the trainer what is it that made customers choose a bank when the same kind of banking products were doled out by every bank because of the then strict banking regulations in India.
The trainer replied that no matter how many things are regulated by any authority, there is one thing that can never be regulated – and that is personalised service. “I have followed that advice from that day on,” he says.
To ensure high service levels, Global Financial Services, or GFS, has invested in its own proprietary software system to manage the accounts of its 1800 mortgage and insurance customers. “It is so comprehensive that my office can be on top of every single client development at all times. Besides, I can access the information on our system from anywhere in the world,” Mr Kumar says.
GFS not only helps customers obtain mortgages for homes and looking after their insurance needs, but also goes the extra mile in advising them about the best and most cost effective ways of managing both their mortgages and insurance packages.
“We make it a point to see situations through the eyes of the customer – the present need, the likely future situation, the overall economic situation and such other factors – and give our advice after careful consideration of how these various factors could affect the customer now and in the future,” Mr Kumar says.
“Many a times, customers are in a far better financial situation than they think they are in, which can help them shorten their mortgage terms. All they need is expert financial advice on how to do it. That’s where we come in with the solution most suited for each customer – because each one’s needs are different. There even has been an instance when a customer was able to clear of a 30-year mortgage in just three months with only a bit of financial planning.”
Such a case is indeed rare he admits but it is not hard to shorten mortgage terms with a little bit of planning and some expert advice, he adds.
Mr Kumar says that the present financial downturn is the worst he has seen in his years in New Zealand but admits that nearly none of his clients have been affected severely by it to the point of being driven to worry about being able to pay their mortgages and other financial obligations.
“Our advice has always been to save for a rainy day and it just so happens that most of our clients have taken our advice seriously and been financially prudent,” he says. Mr Kumar is a firm believer in financial discipline and does not agree with the lax practice of financial institutions in the past few years when caution was thrown to the winds and funds were lent with little care.
“It is important to have a stake in the property – a 10 or 15 per cent margin is a must and is good practice,” he says. “We don’t encourage potential clients who come to us with requests of 100 per cent finance.” That is the reason he says why the record of his clients is so good and why the banks prefer dealing with a company like GFS: “Banks definitely look at the quality of clients and their profiles that a mortgage broking firm brings.”
GFS has big plans in the financial services sector in coming years but it has had to reschedule its strategic path of growth and diversification because of the present economic climate, Mr Kumar says. He expects the downturn’s effects to last until at least the latter half of 2010 when he reckons things will begin to look up again and there will be a steadier upswing in real estate investment than the present one which he believes is temporary and is driven by the fall in interest rates after so many years.
“We are well prepared with our future plans and will take them forward as we see the economic climate get better,” he says.
A billion dollars is a significant landmark by any reckoning. Even more so in a small country at the bottom of the world whose entire population wouldn’t even fill a suburb of many an Indian metropolis.
But achieving this magical figure right here in Auckland is Ajay Kumar. Since starting his...
A billion dollars is a significant landmark by any reckoning. Even more so in a small country at the bottom of the world whose entire population wouldn’t even fill a suburb of many an Indian metropolis.
But achieving this magical figure right here in Auckland is Ajay Kumar. Since starting his financial advisory and services business – Global Financial Services – in the city not so long ago, he has successfully exceeded the coveted one billion dollar figure in the total amount of mortgages he has helped banks deploy to his ever growing list of clients.
It is the first time that an Indian mortgage broking house or an Indian individual has achieved such a distinction in New Zealand.
The self-effacing Mr Kumar, however, would rather underplay this achievement. “My philosophy has always been to deliver better value and services to my customers, by empowering them with all the vital information and working with them to make intelligent and practical financial decisions,” he says.
“I am not sure if this billion dollar milestone adds more value to my customers in any substantial way. I’d therefore rather not talk about it and instead see how the goodwill that it has created can be harnessed to deliver even better service,” he adds.
In his characteristically modest style, Mr Kumar attributes his company’s success to the support and faith that his customers have reposed in it. “Every success is attributable to customers and customers alone,” he says.
“In any business where there is competition, the quality of service becomes the differentiator and that is what makes a customer most happy.”
Mr Kumar began his career in banking in India way back in the 1970s and recalled what a banking trainer had told him in his early days when he asked the trainer what is it that made customers choose a bank when the same kind of banking products were doled out by every bank because of the then strict banking regulations in India.
The trainer replied that no matter how many things are regulated by any authority, there is one thing that can never be regulated – and that is personalised service. “I have followed that advice from that day on,” he says.
To ensure high service levels, Global Financial Services, or GFS, has invested in its own proprietary software system to manage the accounts of its 1800 mortgage and insurance customers. “It is so comprehensive that my office can be on top of every single client development at all times. Besides, I can access the information on our system from anywhere in the world,” Mr Kumar says.
GFS not only helps customers obtain mortgages for homes and looking after their insurance needs, but also goes the extra mile in advising them about the best and most cost effective ways of managing both their mortgages and insurance packages.
“We make it a point to see situations through the eyes of the customer – the present need, the likely future situation, the overall economic situation and such other factors – and give our advice after careful consideration of how these various factors could affect the customer now and in the future,” Mr Kumar says.
“Many a times, customers are in a far better financial situation than they think they are in, which can help them shorten their mortgage terms. All they need is expert financial advice on how to do it. That’s where we come in with the solution most suited for each customer – because each one’s needs are different. There even has been an instance when a customer was able to clear of a 30-year mortgage in just three months with only a bit of financial planning.”
Such a case is indeed rare he admits but it is not hard to shorten mortgage terms with a little bit of planning and some expert advice, he adds.
Mr Kumar says that the present financial downturn is the worst he has seen in his years in New Zealand but admits that nearly none of his clients have been affected severely by it to the point of being driven to worry about being able to pay their mortgages and other financial obligations.
“Our advice has always been to save for a rainy day and it just so happens that most of our clients have taken our advice seriously and been financially prudent,” he says. Mr Kumar is a firm believer in financial discipline and does not agree with the lax practice of financial institutions in the past few years when caution was thrown to the winds and funds were lent with little care.
“It is important to have a stake in the property – a 10 or 15 per cent margin is a must and is good practice,” he says. “We don’t encourage potential clients who come to us with requests of 100 per cent finance.” That is the reason he says why the record of his clients is so good and why the banks prefer dealing with a company like GFS: “Banks definitely look at the quality of clients and their profiles that a mortgage broking firm brings.”
GFS has big plans in the financial services sector in coming years but it has had to reschedule its strategic path of growth and diversification because of the present economic climate, Mr Kumar says. He expects the downturn’s effects to last until at least the latter half of 2010 when he reckons things will begin to look up again and there will be a steadier upswing in real estate investment than the present one which he believes is temporary and is driven by the fall in interest rates after so many years.
“We are well prepared with our future plans and will take them forward as we see the economic climate get better,” he says.
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