Why I Left Banking to Build Something Better

At The Brokerage, we believe the best finance advice comes from people who have lived the industry from the inside. Rowan Sedgwick, our Director and Commercial Broker based in Brisbane, is one of those people. With a career spanning major bank lending, the global financial crisis, and the evolution of the broking industry, Rowan brings a depth of perspective that is rare.

In this piece, he shares the journey that led him to broking, and the thinking behind why The Brokerage was built the way it was.

I started my career in commercial banking back in 1999, fresh out of Queensland University of Technology with a Bachelor of Business Management and a lot to learn. I joined one of the major banks on a graduate program and spent just over six years working my way through different roles, learning the mechanics of commercial finance and working alongside some genuinely talented people.

For a long time, it was a great environment to develop in. But over time, something started to bother me.

You would meet a client, get to know their business, understand what they were trying to build, and spend six months doing solid work together. Then you would move on to your next role. And those clients, who might have had the same accountant and the same lawyer for ten years, were left with yet another new face on the finance side. The one piece of the puzzle that should have been a long-term relationship kept changing.

That bothered me more than I expected it to.

Finance, particularly for people growing a business or building a property portfolio, is not a transaction. It is what keeps things moving. And the people who get it right are the ones who know the full picture: the history, the goals, the complexity underneath the surface. You cannot get there if you are constantly starting from scratch with someone new.

So I made a decision. I wanted my future in finance to be built around relationships, not roles. I was probably a bit younger than most when I took the leap, but I made the move into broking and did not look back.

The early years were a real education. I quickly realised how much I did not know. Working within a single bank, you only ever see one lens on the market. Broking exposed me to how much broader the landscape actually was, and how much there was still to learn. Then the global financial crisis hit, and that accelerated everything. It was a difficult period, but it taught me lessons about risk, resilience, and client relationships that I simply could not have learned any other way.

Eventually, after working within a larger broking group for a number of years, I started to see a different opportunity. The group I was with was very much set up around individual operators. It worked, but I could see what was missing: the ability to offer clients a genuinely integrated service, backed by a proper team.

The market was shifting too. The relationship that had traditionally lived in the banking world was moving into the broking world. And our clients were leading that shift. They were asking us to help with their home loan. Their car loan. Their nephew’s first purchase. The people in their wider world who needed good advice and someone they could trust.

We had a choice: do a half-hearted job of trying to cover all of that, or actually invest in building the right team and the right capability to do it properly. We chose the latter.

That decision led to what The Brokerage is today. A business built around being a genuine, full-service finance partner for clients who want to grow their wealth through property and want considered, experienced advice along the way. Not a contact that changes every six months. A team that knows you, knows your goals, and is there for the long term.

That is what I wanted from finance when I was sitting on the other side of the desk all those years ago. It is what we set out to build, and it is what drives the way we work today.

If you are looking for a commercial finance partner who takes the time to understand your business and your goals, Rowan and the team at The Brokerage are here to help.

Whether you are acquiring commercial property, exploring development finance, or simply want a second opinion on your current structure, get in touch for a no-obligation conversation.