CASE STUDY
From One Hire to 30: How Finance One Scaled Non-Conforming Lending with an Offshore Operations Team
To keep pace with growth in non-conforming lending, Finance One built an offshore operations team with Emapta, freeing its Australian staff to focus on customers while improving speed across the lending process.
Industry:
Non-Conforming Lending, Financial Services
Network Size:
150+ employees
Headquarters:
Australia (nationwide operations)
Finance One, part of Investor Central Group, helps customers across Australia who don’t meet traditional bank requirements. As demand increased, so did the operational load behind each loan.
In this case study, we spoke with Leann McDonald, Chief Customer Officer, about how Finance One scaled its lending operations with a dedicated offshore team through Emapta, without losing control of service quality.
Years in Business:
Since 2010
Remote Team:
30 team members with Emapta
The Challenge: Recognizing Operational Pressure
Non-conforming lending is rarely straightforward. Each application can involve more nuance, exceptions, and back-and-forth than a typical bank loan, which means operational capacity can become a growth limiter fast.
As Finance One’s customer base and broker network expanded, internal teams felt the strain. “We were starting to experience quite substantial growth, and we needed to support our back-end operations and our administrative functions,” says McDonald.
They wanted to protect three priorities at once:
- Speed and consistency for brokers and customers
- Strong internal processes that maintain quality
- More time onshore for customer conversations and solution design
Hiring locally was possible, but Finance One wanted a model that could scale sustainably as volumes and complexity increased, without overloading the Australian team.
They tested the approach by starting small.
The Turning Point: A Support Model Built for Long-Term Growth
From the beginning, Finance One wasn’t looking for a transactional outsourcing arrangement. They needed a partner they could build with, one that could support a dedicated team over time and align with their values.
“In a solution and a partner for our offshoring, we were looking for somebody that was going to give us a sustainable model. So not just a quick win, but really partner with us to provide talent that is going to stick with us and support our operations to move forward,” says McDonald.
Their criteria included:
- A sustainable offshore model that could expand with demand
- Retention-focused talent that could grow with the business
- A partner aligned with Finance One’s values, especially how people are treated
- Local support for employment, HR, and compliance
- A structure that complements the Australian workforce
In Emapta, Finance One found a combination that stood out: a strong talent pool and a people-first approach that matched their culture. The partnership began with one broker support role, giving Finance One a low-risk way to validate fit.
That first hire delivered immediate relief and improved service consistency, which created the confidence to expand.
The Results: Scaling From One Hire to Almost Thirty
Over time, Finance One and Emapta grew the offshore team beyond broker support into broader operations and administration, building capacity where workload was most repeatable and process-heavy.
As responsibilities expanded, ownership stayed clear:
- Emapta handled local employment, facilities, HR, and compliance for offshore staff
- Finance One owned workflows, training, quality standards, and cultural integration
This wasn’t built as a separate back office. Offshore team members work inside Finance One’s systems and operate as part of the wider team, supporting the same outcomes with the same expectations.
Integration also became smoother as hiring scaled. Each new role followed a more repeatable process: clear role design and talent mapping, structured onboarding that covered context and tasks, and tight feedback loops to refine training and quality.
Today, Finance One can add capacity through a predictable model, without rebuilding processes every time growth accelerates.
Future Plans: Stronger Operations with an Integrated Team
A key differentiator in the partnership has been how offshore team members are supported, which drives engagement, stability, and consistency in day-to-day execution. “The thing I have been most impressed with Emapta is how much they care for their team members. The engagement is amazing and the communication has been really fantastic,” says McDonald.
As Finance One looks ahead, Emapta remains part of the long-term plan, supporting a scalable operations foundation that keeps customer service strong even as complexity increases.
Key Takeaways
- Build one team across locations. Offshore works best when integrated into the same systems, culture, and standards, not treated as a bolt-on.
- Start focused, then expand. Proving value with a single role made it easier to scale into settlements and broader operations.
- Protect onshore time for high-value work. Moving process-heavy tasks offshore created more capacity for customer-facing conversations and complex decisions.
- Choose alignment, not just capability. Shared values and people care supported retention and quality at scale.
“Keep it the same with your onshore team as you do with your offshore team. Put in the effort and you will get the rewards.”
– Leann McDonald
Chief Customer Officer, Finance One
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Founder
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