FGO Finance Group is a commercial finance brokerage based in Melbourne, Australia. We help business owners, investors, and homebuyers structure and fund the deals that matter most to them, from acquiring a business through to refinancing a commercial property or buying a first home.
We are operators as much as advisers. One of us spent close to a decade running financial services at scale in the US technology sector. The other has spent his banking career inside major lenders. That combination shapes how we work, how we structure deals, and how we talk to clients.
The page below is for anyone trying to understand who we are, what we do, and whether FGO is the right partner for a specific deal. If you want a faster path, you can start an enquiry or drop us a note and we will take it from there.
What makes FGO different
Three things separate FGO from a typical broking experience.
Banking and operating, not just broking
Jonathan spent his career in commercial banking before founding FGO. Gabriel spent close to a decade at Uber running the financial services business for North America. The combination is unusual in the broking world, where most operators come up through aggregator channels. The practical effect is that we see deals through both lenses at once, which keeps us focused on the questions the credit team will actually ask and the operational realities the business will face after settlement.
Structure first, not product first
Most brokers think product. We think structure. On acquisitions, the funding mix of vendor finance, earn-outs, working capital, and bank debt matters more than the headline rate on any single line. On commercial property, it shows up in loan-to-value optimisation, security structuring, and how different banks value the same asset. On home lending, in matching a borrower to the lender most likely to favour their income profile. Across all three, we weigh single-bank consolidated relationships against splitting facilities for terms.
Process, not just relationships
Many brokerages run on inbox and memory. We run on a system. Every deal moves through a defined sequence from initial review through indicative terms, formal application, and settlement, with clear status visibility for the client at each step. That means faster turnaround, fewer dropped balls, and a much shorter "what is happening with my deal right now" question because the answer is usually already on the page. The process is the differentiator. The relationships are the floor.
What we do
FGO covers four service pillars. Each links to a deeper page explaining the lender landscape, deal structure, and how we work on that specific product.
Business Acquisition Finance. Funding business purchases, management buyouts, search-fund acquisitions, franchise resales, and bolt-on acquisitions across Australia. The structural focus of the brokerage and the area where we see the most demand from first-time acquirers, MBO operators, and families taking on second-generation businesses.
Commercial Property Finance. Industrial, retail, office, mixed-use, and specialised property. Acquisition, refinance, and development across investor and owner-occupier transactions. We work with single-tenancy industrial through to multi-tenancy retail centres and the full range in between.
Business Loans. Working capital facilities, term debt, equipment finance, asset finance, and lines of credit for operating businesses. Also covers strategic finance for scale-stage businesses, including platform expansion, follow-on acquisitions, and capital recycling for operators who have outgrown their existing facilities.
Home Loans. Owner-occupier and investor home lending across the full lender market. First-home buyers, refinancers, upgraders, and investment portfolio borrowers. We run the residential side with the same structuring discipline as the commercial side.
Our team
FGO was founded by Jonathan Chan. Each of us has a longer biography on the dedicated profile page if you want the full story.
Jonathan Chan, Founder & Managing Director. Jonathan has spent his career in commercial banking. Most recently he was at Judo Bank, on the business banking side of SME and acquisition lending, working with clients from sub-$1M facilities through to deals needing tens of millions in funding. Before that he was at NAB, working with business clients across a range of industries on their debt and funding needs. He started FGO to bring that banking depth, and an insider's understanding of how commercial and business banking works, into broking, so he can deliver the best possible experience for his clients. Jonathan leads the deal pipeline, lender engagement, and execution across the brokerage. Read full bio →
Gabriel Loh, Managing Director. Gabriel spent nearly a decade in the United States at Uber, where he ran the financial services business for North America. Before that he worked at Australia's major banks. He returned to Melbourne with family to join FGO alongside Jonathan, applying his operational background to commercial finance broking. Gabriel leads brand, marketing, and business development at FGO. Read full bio →
We believe the combination of operational thinking from the technology side and banking depth from the credit side meaningfully improves how clients experience the broking process. The thesis has held, and the client roster we work with today is the evidence.
Where we work
We are based in Melbourne and operate across Australia. Most of our clients are based in Victoria, with a meaningful and growing share in Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, and the ACT. We do work in person where it is useful, including site visits on commercial property deals and face-to-face meetings on larger transactions.
For Melbourne clients specifically, we are happy to meet in person at our office, at your business, or somewhere mutually convenient. For interstate clients, we run the full process remotely with video and document collaboration, with in-person meetings if a deal warrants the travel. The brokerage is licensed federally through Finsure, so we can act for clients in any state or territory.
Common questions
Where is FGO based?
We are based in Melbourne, Australia, with clients across Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, and the ACT. The brokerage is licensed federally through Finsure, which means we can act for clients anywhere in Australia.
Does FGO charge a broker fee?
For most retail home loans and standard commercial transactions, we are paid by the lender on settlement, not by the client. Specialist transactions, complex acquisition deals, and bespoke advisory engagements sometimes carry a brokerage fee, which is always disclosed and agreed up front before any work begins.
What lenders does FGO work with?
We work across more than 20 lenders, covering the four major banks, the main challenger banks, and a range of private credit and non-bank specialist lenders. We match each deal to the lender we believe is most likely to approve it on competitive terms and we will tell you why we are recommending the lender we are.
How do I work with FGO?
The fastest path is to start an enquiry or drop us a note. We take the brief, run the indicative numbers, and come back with a view on which lenders fit the deal and what the structure should look like. If you want to keep going, we run the formal application end to end. If you decide not to proceed at any point, there is no obligation.
What size deals does FGO work on?
Residential home loans from first-home-buyer size through to multi-million-dollar investor portfolios. Commercial transactions typically run from around $500K through to the mid-tens of millions. We are happy to look at smaller transactions where they fit alongside a larger relationship or as a referral from an existing client.