HAILO adds whole-debt modelling as ASIC prepares broker duty review

LoanOptions.ai has integrated debt analysis platform Unbound into its HAILO broker portal, allowing mortgage brokers to assess a client’s debts together when preparing a home loan recommendation. The analysis includes mortgages, car loans, personal loans, credit cards and student loans.

The change gives brokers a record of how a proposed home loan fits with a borrower’s wider finances. That could help them explain why they recommended a particular lender or loan structure, rather than relying on a file note that considers only one loan.

The integration comes as the Australian Securities and Investments Commission prepares to report on its first review of mortgage brokers’ best interests duty. The duty requires brokers providing credit assistance to act in their clients’ best interests, and ASIC has said it is examining the reasoning behind lender and product choices.

How the debt analysis works

Unbound models how a client’s existing debts interact, rather than assessing each loan in isolation. The companies say brokers can use the analysis to compare loan structures, identify refinancing opportunities and consider whether changing one debt could improve eligibility for another.

The platform can also surface options to reduce repayments or interest, repay debt faster, restructure existing lending or finance a new purchase. LoanOptions.ai founder and CEO Julian Fayad said the integration puts a fuller view of a client’s debts inside the HAILO workflow, so “the recommendation and the reasoning behind it are documented, not just remembered”.

The companies describe the output as a quantitative, auditable record supporting a broker’s financial rationale. Whether the analysis changes a recommendation will depend on the individual client’s circumstances; no customer outcomes from the integration were provided.

What ASIC has told brokers

ASIC commissioner Alan Kirkland said in July that the review was expected to be completed later in 2026. He told brokers to document and explain their recommendations, and said reviewers should check that the reasons make sense for the specific customer.

Kirkland warned that “boilerplate factors that could apply to anyone” would make it hard to show a recommendation served that customer. ASIC has also said the lowest interest rate does not automatically mean a loan is the cheapest or best-value option.

The review’s findings have not yet been announced. Brokers facilitated 81.6% of new residential home loans in Australia in the June 2026 quarter, according to figures cited in the announcement, making the regulator’s assessment relevant across much of the home loan market.

This report draws on information from Australian Broker.