iMoney founder joins Aura Group

Aura Group has hired a property specialist to lead its local real estate credit strategy.

The diversified alternatives firm has appointed Elizabeth Dinh as head of property credit.

The founder of iMoney Financial and former chief executive of Acceler8 Advisory Capital has worked in banking, property, and asset management for over 20 years.

In the new role, she will originate, and structure deals for wholesale and high-net-worth clients and family offices.

At Acceler8 Capital, Dinh specialised in mortgage funds and property and asset management.

Before that, she worked at Macquarie Bank, Investec, and Bank of Queensland where she developed and managed large mortgage books, specialising in commercial and medical financing.

"Aura Group provides an alternative funding solution to Australian corporates compared to the traditional real estate credit providers," she said. 
"Our loans are secured against first registered mortgages over predominately residential properties across metropolitan areas nationally.

Dinh explained that by providing a better solution and experience to borrowers, the firm can deliver better risk-adjusted returns to investors, which is paramount in a rising interest rate environment.

"Our team has extensive expertise and experience in this domain and an extensive origination network.

This is a core part of Aura's investment philosophy, she went on to say as it has incubated in various financial services businesses and invested at their seed stages, including Finsure, a leading mortgage brokering aggregator with more than 2,500 brokers nationally and bought by MA Financial for $145 million earlier last year."

"With more SMEs seeking capital solutions, property credit providers offer an alternative source of funding,' she added.

"It is important for property credit providers to be more flexible in their lending criteria to enable SMEs with the capital to sustain and grow their businesses.

The Group manages and advises on over $1.5 billion in assets.

Founded in Australia in 2009, Aura has a significant footprint across the Asia Pacific region, including Sydney, Melbourne, Singapore, Ho Chi Minh City and Manila.