National Committee Members

Chair

Will Farrant is a Partner at Ares Asia in Sydney where he is head of the Alternative Credit business for the region.  Alternative Credit focusses on asset-backed financing of all types. 

Prior to joining Ares, Will was a Managing Director in the Securitised Products Group at Credit Suisse, where he was responsible for the APAC region.  Previously, Will headed Credit Suisse’s Australian and New Zealand debt capital markets origination and syndication business. 

Will’s early career has a strong securitisation theme.  Will started professional life as a London and Singapore-based securitisation lawyer with Norton Rose, before becoming an investment manager at Gordian Knot Investment Management in London. 

Deputy Chair

Matthew is the Group Treasurer of SG Fleet Group, a leading provider of motor vehicle leasing, fleet management and salary packaging services, with businesses in Australia, New Zealand and the UK.

Matthew has 24 years of corporate and bank treasury experience, which comprised 7 years in leadership roles in the treasury team of Pepper Group, including as Australian Treasurer, and 17 years at Macquarie Group, including as Treasurer of the Banking & Securitisation Division.

Prior to that Matthew worked for 10 years in the Banking & Financial Services practice of Coopers & Lybrand (now PwC) in Sydney and London, qualifying as a Chartered Account in 1989.

Matthew is co-Chair of the Industry & Markets Subcommittee and has been an active participant on a number of other ASF subcommittees over the past decade.  He has been a long term participant in the securitisation industry and is a strong advocate for the non-bank sector.

Treasurer

Heather has over 18 years’ experience in the US, UK and Australian retail banking market and has specialised in securitisation since 2003. She was a key member of the Deloitte New York Securitisation Services Team through the 2007-2010 GFC working with clients to access government support, restructure transactions and assess the impact of the crisis. 

Heather represents Asia-Pacific in Deloitte’s market-leading Global Securitisation Team, with strong links to global experts across the world and she leads Deloitte’s Securitisation Advisory offerings nationally. She is an audit partner and works closely with many of Australia’s largest lenders challenging end-to-end controls and processes across the credit lifecycle as well as working on many of the Australian market’s domestic and international issuances, for both audit and non-audit clients across asset classes. Heather also regularly leads due diligence engagements on portfolio acquisitions and M&A engagements.  She audits both ADIs and non-bank lenders, as well as one of Australia’s largest aggregators.

Heather is a contributing author and presenter of the annual Deloitte Mortgage Report and is a judge for The Advisor Magazine’s Broker of the Year Awards. 

Heather has been Treasurer of the Australian Securitisation Forum since 2017. She also chairs both the internal Audit & Risk Subcommittee and the Accounting and Tax Subcommittee, and has recently led the ASF’s discussions with the Australian Accounting Standards Board regarding financial reporting requirements for securitisation SPVs. Additionally, she has been a member of the Education Subcommittee since 2011 and leads all the accounting and tax concepts for the ASF’s educational offerings. 

James is the CFO of Firstmac – a role he has held since 2005.

He has a wealth of knowledge in treasury and capital markets and expertise in debt, equity and derivative markets. He has overseen the issuance of more than A$32 billion of RMBS, and managed Firstmac through volatile global funding markets including the global financial crisis and COVID-19 pandemic.

James started his career at KPMG in Brisbane where he attained his ACA qualifications with the Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand. He has since worked for CSFB, Abbey National, and HSBC. James has a Bachelor of Business (Accounting) from the Queensland University of Technology, and is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

 

Scott has over 20 years of securitisation experience gained as both an investor and banker.
 
He currently leads the Investment Risk & Execution Oversight function at IFM Investors, a major institutional investor owned by Australian superannuation funds. In previous roles at IFM Investors he lead the APAC Debt Investments team, with responsibility for cash, bond and credit strategies, and had joint portfolio management of IFM’s flagship credit fund and leading securitisation investor, the Specialised Credit Fund.
 
He has worked at Western Asset Management, a specialist credit fixed income manager, and its predecessor in Australia, Citigroup Asset Management, where he was Vice President, Fixed Income.  Scott’s experience covers Australian and offshore markets with roles at Westpac in corporate banking and financial markets focusing on debt capital markets origination and sales, interest rate risk management, foreign exchange and money markets. This included a period in London.

Scott is Chair of the Investors Subcommittee. 

Michael is Treasurer at Judo Bank. Having joined the business in 2016, he supported the initial capital raising process and has built out the treasury function from a blank sheet to a team of five supporting Judo’s transition to an ADI and growth in lending to an SME loan portfolio in excess of A$4 billion.
 
Michael has led Judo’s securitisation activities including originating multiple SME-focused warehouses totalling ~A$1.3 billion, its inaugural rated retained transaction and investment-grade issuer rating. He has also established the bank’s liquidity-management operations.
 
Prior to Judo, Michael worked at NAB and EY in corporate banking, mid-market M&A and strategic project initiatives.

Jennifer Hellerud is a managing director and head of RBCCM Australia's Securitisation Finance business. Jennifer joined RBCCM in October 2017 to establish the Australian securitisation business, drawing upon RBCCM's market-leading position in North America. The originate to distribute business now comprises a team of four, providing warehouse funding and private capital solutions across a variety of asset classes and leveraging its global distribution network to assist clients achieve their funding objectives. 

Jennifer has 20 years' experience in the securitisation industry, beginning her career with Standard & Poor's before joining Westpac Institutional Bank's Structured Finance team in an origination role. 

She is currently Chair of the Women in Securitisation Subcommittee which she has been a member of since 2019. She is also a former chair of RBCCM Australia's Diversity Council and remains an active member of the council today. 

Richard Lovell is an Executive Director in the Investment team at the Clean Energy Finance Corporation. Richard has overall responsibility for the debt markets business at the CEFC, including climate/green bond activity and other aggregation programs for funding. Richard is also responsible for capital management activities relating to the CEFC balance sheet.

Prior to joining the CEFC, Richard was an Executive Director in the Structured and Asset Finance business at Westpac Institutional Bank and prior to that worked at Société Générale and Perpetual Trustees.

Richard has a Bachelor of Economics from UNSW with a double major in finance and economics.

Rick is the Treasurer at RedZed Lending Solutions, a leading provider of specialist lending solutions for self-employed customers. He oversees the company’s funding and financial risk management strategies, ensuring optimal performance and sustainability. With over 25 years of experience in the securitisation industry, Rick has held senior roles in funding and securitisation for various ADIs and non-bank financial institutions. He is passionate about building and leading teams that are aligned with the company’s long-term vision and values. When he is not working, Rick enjoys motorsports and cycling, as well as spending time with his family.

Rick holds a Master of Finance and a Master of Business Administration from Macquarie University.

Tricia has over 20 years’ financial markets experience across treasury, capital markets and insurance.

She joined Westpac in 2015 in the Structured Funding and Capital team within Group Treasury, with primary responsibilities for structuring, execution and ongoing management of covered bond and securitisation transactions to support the funding and liquidity needs of the Westpac Group. 

Prior to Westpac, Tricia worked at the Royal Bank of Scotland in Sydney and London, structuring and executing ABS transactions for Australian and global issuers across a wide range of asset classes including student loans, and helped establish RBS’s inaugural global covered bond programme. She also worked in the London insurance markets with Aviva, where she developed and implemented economic capital models in key general insurance businesses to support capital management strategy.

Tricia has a Bachelor of Commerce (Actuarial Studies) and a Bachelor of Applied Finance from Macquarie University.
 

Anne-Marie is a Partner at King & Wood Mallesons (KWM), where she specialises in securitisation, derivatives, and other structured capital markets and structured finance matters across the Australian and Asian regions.  Anne-Marie is highly regarded as an Australian and Asian securitisation and structured finance practitioner, and as a thought leader in innovative structures and new development areas such as green, social and sustainable finance, securitisations of alternative asset classes (such as NPLs) and securitised portfolio acquisitions.
 
She regularly speaks at industry and academic events, and has been involved in many market leading transactions in Australia and Asia.  Anne-Marie has been named as a leading lawyer for Capital markets - securitisation in Chambers Asia-Pacific, for Capital markets - structured finance and securitisation in the IFLR1000 Guide to the World's Leading Financial Law Firms, for Banking and Finance Law, Debt Capital Markets Law, Derivatives, Structured Finance Law and Government Practice in Best Lawyers in Australia, and for Best in Structured finance at the Euromoney Asian Women in Business Law Awards.
 
Anne-Marie has been heavily involved in ASF and other industry initiatives, including by assisting the industry to navigate the pandemic through leading the AOFM forbearance SPV project, through co-leading engagements in connection with BBSW reform, as a member of the ASF Industry and Markets Subcommittee, and through participating on a number of ASF working groups.  Because of her co-specialities in derivatives, other structured products and prudential capital and her broader Asian practice, Anne-Marie brings not only local securitisation-specific knowledge, but also lateral industry and cross-border perspectives.
 

Sarah Samson joined National Australia Bank in 2010 and currently holds the role of Executive, Capital Markets – which covers origination and execution of debt capital markets products (including securitisation and hybrids and equity capital markets), the syndicate function, and sustainable finance.

Sarah previously held the role of Global Head of Securitisation Origination, and has a double undergraduate degree from Monash University (Business Management and Business Marketing), and a Masters of Applied Finance (Melbourne University).

Sarah is well known to most issuers, investors, and other counterparties (law firms, rating agencies etc.) through her work on many transactions during her time in the industry, and has been the primary lead on many securitisation transactions which NAB has arranged and led, globally.