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Scott Baldwin still smiles recalling the moment he received his first job offer in the consumer finance sector back in 2008. After years working in senior roles at General Electric, one of the world’s biggest companies, it was a significant change. Not just in industry, but in salary.
“I remember getting home and thinking ‘I paid more tax last year on my salary working at GE than this offer, so I had better adjust my lifestyle’,” he quips.
The offer came from Rob Bryant, the co-founder and CEO of Money3, the consumer lending business then known as Money3. The two had a shared history, as both grew up in country Victoria.
“I knew Rob because we both grew up in Shepparton and I had made a decision, either GE was going to move me to China, or I was going to leave,” Baldwin recalls. “As it turned out, I went to Rob with an idea about how to grow his business. I did say to him, ‘I'll work for free’. So he said, ‘Start Monday’.
Baldwin duly started in the Money3 Moonee Ponds branch in Melbourne writing loans worth a mere $200 and did indeed work for a month for free.
“After a month Rob said, ‘If you are going to stay, we should probably work something out’.”
The pair eventually agreed on a more appropriate salary, and Baldwin officially joined the company as Chief Operating Officer. Over the next seven years, he brought his background in sales, marketing, and technology to bear on the fledgling lender, helping to transform its operations and customer base.
A key initiative was the growth of the secured finance division, which would later become a cornerstone of the business.
In 2015 he replaced Bryant as Money3 managing director and today is running a company with nearly $1 billion in assets, 70,000 customers, and a national distribution network spanning brokers and direct digital channels.
Known as Solvar, the group has three Australian business units: Money3, Automotive Financial Services and Bennji. Its biggest customers are small businesses purchasing new or used vehicles & equipment essential to grow their operations, and at the other end consumers seeking a used car.
“Most customers you meet are exceptionally appreciative of the opportunity to get access to a motor vehicle, because when they've gone to the bank, they've been declined,” Baldwin says.
Several new names for the company were suggested by the firm’s staff when they were approached by the marketing team in the first quarter of 2022 to come up with a new name to replace Money3. Freeway Finance was one, Auto3 another. Eventually they settled on the constructed name, Solvar. “But all of the names had a theme about solving customers’ problems.” Baldwin says.
“The name Solver is patented by someone else. Solvar we found was only used by an Irish jewellery company. We didn’t think there would be much competitive tension with them.”
Since the name change took effect in late 2022 the culture of Solvar has been completely transformed, partly due to the controversial decision by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) to take legal action against the company for alleged breaches to responsible lending laws.
Money3 denies any breaches and said it acted in a fair and transparent way with borrowers. Solvar has said it expects the judgement to be handed down by the end of the calendar year.
“ASIC has gone through every part of the business,” Baldwin says. “We've gone from being a good company to a very structured company because we've had to make significant investments in processes, procedures and governance. There is a good foundation now to double or triple the size of this business.”
While he says the culture has become slightly more conservative as a result, Solvar still has a strong focus on sales on agility, flexibility, and giving the customer a fair go.
Prior to joining Solvar, Baldwin spent over a decade in a variety of senior roles with General Electric Healthcare, from Sales & Service across Asia to leading infrastructure projects and working on the Asian Mergers and Acquisitions team. He had joined GE after studying electrical & electronic engineering at La Trobe University, specialising in bio medical engineering. That engineering background makes him a leader keen to get his hands dirty and into the weeds.
“I love the detail of the business and that customer interaction part, and to be honest, I am probably a little bit too detailed at times,” he says.
“So I've been very conscious that, as we get bigger, I can't be there. But I do really push my executive team to go and learn the business. Learn what the customer wants, because you will build better solutions.
Solvar’s biggest shareholder is Alex Waislitz’s Thorney Opportunities group, which Baldwin says has been important to provide stability, especially through market crises such as the GFC or the COVID pandemic.
“Alex's team also does try and open doors to other investments, and look for ways that there might be market synergy between this investment and others. So that is valuable as a smaller, listed player. We wouldn't get that breadth of exposure if it wasn't for them,” he says.
Going forward the launch of the firm’s new commercial lending arm, known as Bennji, is expected to drive a material uplift in revenues this future financial years.
Focused on small to medium business owners, tradies, and transport operators seeking funding for utes, vans, light commercial and yellow goods, it leverages technology to offer fast approvals, flexible deal structures, and frictionless settlements.
“Our focus for Bennji is to complement what we've got and now is good timing, because used trucks in particular have become a lot cheaper than where they were,” Baldwin says.
“But it is really about leveraging our existing distribution channel and trying to get a greater share of the Brokers wallet.”
Solvar is also winding down its New Zealand operations, specifically its Go Car Finance (GCF) division, and redirecting its focus and capital towards expanding its Australian business.
As a result the firm’s core AFS Technology business has gone through a wholesale technology upgrade and simplification over the past 12 months, which is now driving efficiency and a better broker experience. As a result new originations in the third quarter of fiscal 2025 were up 26 per cent.
“Technology in a finance business is essential. It's the foundation of what we do,”
Baldwin says, noting Artificial Intelligence is already allowing customer calls to be much more efficiently monitored and recorded, improving productivity.
It is also improving call centre management and oversight for team leaders.
“More than anything, we see a reduction in people wanting to engage with us verbally.
We've seen that rise and rise as we have gone from a branch network to a call centre, and we are now seeing that trend move to a texting and messaging culture,” Baldwin says. “People want to engage in a conversation, but not a telephone conversation over two minutes. It might be a backwards and forwards text over 20 or 30 minutes.”
Looking back, Baldwin has no regrets about taking a big pay cut - and even working for free for a time - all those years ago to now have built a billion dollar enterprise.
“I actually wanted to work for myself. That was my dream, not to become CEO of the business,” he quips.
“But I'm delighted with where it's going. We've had our challenges and every time they have come along, we have come out a larger organisation, and we've taken more market share. We may have only grown 5% last year in Australia, but I feel we have a really good foundation for growth in FY26.”
