New partners, new products help mReferral survive slowdown
Internet pioneer Howard Chu Ho-hwa has been successful in steering mortgage brokerage firm mReferral through tough times in the property market with a strategy of diversification
Companies diversify for a host of reasons. Howard Chu Ho-hwa did not have a choice: for his firm, diversification was a strategy for survival.
Chu joined mortgage brokerage mReferral Corp (HK) as chief executive in September 2012, a month before the government started to implement a series of tough measures to check the city's soaring home prices.
The slowdown in mortgage financing started even earlier, as tightening measures by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, which regulates the industry, began in October 2009.
These steps included limiting the loan to value ratio and requiring banks to ensure mortgage applicants have the ability to repay their loans.
Last year, the value of new residential mortgage loans fell 17.3 per cent in the fourth consecutive annual decline to HK$158.6 billion, the lowest in eight years.
But Chu said mReferral had outperformed the market.
Thanks to his decision to diversify the company's business products and partners, he said revenue remained at 2012 levels. He did not disclose the figure.