Four months after Commonwealth Bank shuffled the decks in its business banking unit, retrenched senior executives are making moves.
Hotel, tourism and leisure outfit HTL Group has swooped on former CommBank general manager of client acquisition Mario Saia and NSW head of client acquisition Andrew Hazell to establish a debt advisory business under its umbrella.
Saia is joining as a co-founder and national director in the newly established corporate advisory business, with Hazell as a director. They’ll see a familiar face in former CommBank executive director Vasco Duarte, who left the big four bank in September to co-found a debt and wealth advisory unit HTL Private Office, dishing out structured finance and investment strategy advice to the real estate group’s ultra-high net worth clients.
HTL is an umbrella group that focuses on the hospitality and leisure sector. It was founded seven years ago by former Ray White Hotels Australia managing director Andrew Jolliffe and has since established pubs and hotel real estate firm HTL Property, financial advisory and brokerage shop HTL Capital Partners and HTL Private Office. Jolliffe owns HTL Property as a major shareholder. The other units operate as partnerships.
HTL debt will naturally service the hotel and tourism sectors but also seek to expand the brand into other industries, offering advice on sourcing and structuring debt and refinancing.
Saia had more than two decades at CommBank, finishing as leader of its Client Acquisition team. There, he focused on winning new customers for the bank, primarily mid-market ASX-listed and privately held businesses with $3 million to $500 million turnover annually and borrowings between $10 million and $150 million.
Hazell was an executive manager in the acquisition team, overseeing NSW and Queensland.
Street Talk reported in December that CommBank had made three senior roles in its Client Acquisition team redundant as it collapsed the unit into its broader corporate coverage model. Sources said the changes were made to bring the origination side of CBA’s business closer to the distribution business.
HTL Group’s expansion into debt comes days after this column reported that three of Judo Bank’s senior commercial bankers had struck out on their own to establish a national debt advisory and brokerage business based in Melbourne.
Former Bank of Queensland chief executive George Frazis has also hit the pavement with George Capital – a loan broker for his high-net-worth clients and family businesses.
