Mario Rehayem has a lot to be proud of.
As chief executive officer of non-bank lender Pepper Money, he has overseen the firm’s rapid expansion since joining in 2011. After stepping into the corner C-suite office in 2017, Rehayem has driven growth by lifting assets under management to more than $20 billion, serving more than half a million customers, and boosting mortgage originations alongside the asset finance arm, achievements that have continued to accelerate in the first half of 2025.
Now, on the cusp of the non-bank’s 25th anniversary, Rehayem is charting a course toward one million customers by 2029, with new products and services in the pipeline and a growing team.
"The horizon is looking good for us," Rehayem told Australian Broker. "What we've done in 25 years, we want to do in the next five years. It gives you a really good understanding of the growth trajectory of the business and what we've got our sights on. But also at the same time, in the last 25 years this business has really been a game changer for the Australian residential mortgage market and auto financing markets. We've created and innovated new products that have never been distributed in Australia before. We've been at the forefront of technology. When we look back, we've been really ahead of the curve in many ways. It gives us a great sense of pride."
Pepper's financial figures speak for themselves. In August, the non-bank revealed its 2025 first half year results, showing that total originations grew 38%, year-over-year, in the six months ending 30 June, to $4.5 billion. New mortgages were also up, 53%, to $2.8 billion. Growth was driven by residential and commercial prime loans, which surged 171% in the first quarter, from $700 million to $1.9 billion. In addition, originations in asset finance were up 19% to $1.7 billion during the first half.
The results are both a testament to Pepper's expertise in the market, as well as Australia's growing non-bank lending space. An April 2025 report by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) found that non-banks now account for just 10% to 16% of total lending, a share that's expected to keep rising.
"We are a beneficiary of the total addressable market growing," Rehayem said. "What's happening in Australia now is very opportunistic, in the context of, you've got consumer confidence on the rise. You've got household savings on the rise, which is, part and parcel with consumer confidence. You got rates coming down. So all of a sudden that triggers that customers or borrowers will have a higher borrowing capacity. They are now able to borrow more, to lend more, in the context of maybe doing a construction loan, or a refinance, or to consolidate debt. And then, when it comes to auto financing, the big step up for them is, as rates start to come down, they are able then to trade in their vehicle and upgrade their vehicle at the same practically repayment of what they're paying today, because they would have got their loans, car loans, at the peak of the market, which is at the height of the rate market. So it does stimulate the market.
"Non-banks have always been a prominent player in the Australian market," he said. "But also, as your typical headwinds and tailwinds that come through the cycles – and in a market today where cost of funds is tightening – consumers confidence is increasing. So we will start to see more and more tailwinds coming our way, which means there'll be more growth coming across the spectrum of mortgages and auto finance, and that is across the whole industry. Non-banks will be a massive beneficiary of that.
"The major banks are obviously the major player in mortgages," Rehayem said. "But what people don't appreciate is, as the banks try to compete and really start to drive down price in mortgages, what that actually does is stimulate the entire market. More and more people want to actually transact. But in saying that, most banks have a roughly around a 50% conversion ratio. So if they grow the top funnel by stimulating the market and being competitive, what that actually does is the number of customers being turned down actually increases. Then the borrowers who have been turned down look for alternative solutions to the banks, and that's where Pepper comes in."
As traditional banks tighten lending requirements and competition intensifies in the credit markets, Australia’s non-bank sector is becoming increasingly relevant, and more borrowers are finding themselves outside conventional norms. The shift, in turn, is fueling greater reliance on brokers.
At Pepper, roughly 97% of all loans come through the broker channel. Rehayem said the non-bank works with approximately 15,000 accredited brokers – 6,000 on a regular basis – across both residential and commercial loans. And Rehayem said Pepper is currently widening its distribution channels by onboarding more brokers.
"Non-banks give alternative solutions for the brokers," he explained. "What that actually means is that they are going to be able to be in a position to say 'yes' more often to their customers, as opposed to being pigeonholed on a bank-style credit policy where it's a very black-and-white, computer-said-no mentality."
Rehayem pointed to growth opportunities in asset finance, investment property loans, self-managed super funds and commercial finance. In August, the firm strengthened its commercial finance arm in Victoria with two senior appointments in Melbourne.
"We don't launch products in the market unless we feel like we're going to be a main player in that area," Rehayem said. "We've been now originating significant volumes, or uplifting volumes, in commercial real estate and commercial self-managed super funds. We do see it as a continued corridor for growth.
"Banks are particular in where they play," Rehayem continued. "And what we do really well is find out where the banks feel that those areas are either too small for them to play in, or too cumbersome for them to underwrite. It requires boots on ground, and it requires a system that doesn't just say yes or no. It requires people to go through the deal and assess those particular loans. The banks leave very large portions in our terminology, but very small in theirs, because they're such a behemoth. So for us, it's very easy to pick all the voids in the market and create a new segment in the market that is actually helping people to succeed in that area."
