Fresh off its biggest settlement month yet, the brokerage says expansion plans hinge on finding the right operators
National brokerage Flint closed out its 2026 financial year with its biggest settlement month on record, which co-founder and chief executive Christian Stevens (pictured) attributed to a resounding team effort, multiple office openings and diversification.
"It certainly has not been one big month," Stevens tells MPA. "We grew quarter on quarter throughout FY26 and we are on track to do that again in Q1 FY27.”
"FlintCommercial is flying and FlintAsset is on track to pass 100 settlements a month soon, which is incredible considering we only launched it four months ago," he adds. "That gives me a lot of confidence because the growth is not reliant on one person, one office or one part of the market."
With five new offices opened this year, the group has invested strongly in broker support via FlintEngine, which now runs to around 70 people across credit, loan processing, post-settlement, compliance, training, media and operations.
Read more: Flint opens doors in Brisbane through merger with FPW Group
"We have deliberately hired ahead in a lot of those areas," Stevens says. "It is probably not always the most efficient thing to do from a cost perspective, but I would rather have extra capacity than have our brokers waiting for support or our clients feeling the impact of us growing too quickly."
On the technology front, Flint rolled out an agentic AI plan to handle high-volume annual settlements. But AI “is not about replacing people”, Stevens says. "There is still so much repetitive and manual work in broking. If technology can take more of that away, our brokers and support teams can spend more time talking to clients and doing the things they are actually really good at."
He is candid about the cost of moving quickly. "We have definitely made mistakes along the way too. We have changed processes, rebuilt things and probably overcomplicated a few things before simplifying them again. You learn pretty fast what works and what does not."
All the small things
Asked how Flint has kept its culture intact while headcount has multiplied, Stevens points to small, deliberate choices rather than any single initiative. "Who you hire. How you treat people. Whether people actually want each other to do well. Whether someone will pick up the phone and help someone in another office even though there is nothing in it for them. That is the stuff I notice," he says.
With two more offices about to be announced and the group on track for more than 10 locations this financial year, Stevens says the screening process starts and ends with people, not geography. "We are definitely not just putting pins on a map because we want to say we have an office everywhere," he says.
“Probably the biggest thing with culture is still being careful about who comes in,” continues Stevens. “We want great operators, obviously, but good people first. Someone can write huge numbers and still not be right for Flint.
Read more: Flint’s Redom Syed on turning hardship into purpose
“Culture is easy to talk about when everything is going well. I think you really find out what you have built when things are hard and you see whether people still back each other.
“That is the part we need to protect as we get bigger.”
People power
FlintEngine processed 2,860 credit proposals this year, with brokers holding more than 3,500 conversations with prospective clients at around an 80% conversion rate, by Stevens’ estimations.
Social media exposure played a significant role in these numbers, with initiatives like its Beyond The Numbers podcast, Australian Property Talk and the SheInvests financial literacy initiative driving engagement.
Looking back on Flint's first year at scale – significant headcount growth with more of that where it came from – Stevens says there’s one lesson that will define year two.
"People. Easily. What I am most excited about is the quality of the people joining us. I want our brokers to have the best years of their careers, and I want people in our support teams to grow into leaders. For me, year two is about keeping that ambition and hunger, while making sure that as Flint gets bigger, it still feels like Flint."
