Our History
2000 – Bluestone Group was established in 2000 in Australia, initially as a specialist residential mortgage lender. It was founded by former investment banker Alistair Jeffery; he remains very much at the helm of the Group today.
2004 – Backed by a succession of high profile private equity businesses, Bluestone achieved sustained success in the Australian market, winning the BRW Fast 100 for the fastest-growing private company in 2004. Bluestone’s revenue growth between 2001 and 2004 was an extraordinary 800%, a Fast 100 record.
2004 – The business developed a reverse mortgage proposition. This innovation made Bluestone the first major non-bank reverse mortgage lender in Australia and the first lender in Australia to offer a ‘fixed for life’ product so that borrowers were not exposed to long-dated interest rate risk.
2005 – Bluestone again featured in the top 10 of the Fast 100, with a turnover of A$56m and an annual average growth rate of 178%. Success led to expansion into the New Zealand residential mortgage market.
2009 – A series of successful securitisation and investment programmes saw the continued growth and exploration opportunities for expansion in other markets. This led to an office being established in Cambridge (UK) in early 2009. The Office of Fair Trading granted Bluestone’s UK asset management subsidiary a Consumer Credit Licence later the same year. The approval enabled a subsidiary of Bluestone Capital Management (Bluestone Portfolio Management) to lend to individuals and small businesses and undertake servicing mandates in relation to a range of consumer loans (including second charge mortgages or mortgages secured on the property outside the United Kingdom).
2011 – Bluestone’s growth continues, initially with the acquisition of Close Credit Management from Close Brothers in 2011. The business was subsequently re-branded as Bluestone Credit Management and provided portfolio management services to a range of UK clients, including significant car and consumer finance businesses and the public sector.
2012 – An office was opened in Dublin in 2012, initially to service a finance portfolio but by 2014, the business had started lending into the auto finance space as Bluestone Motor Finance.
2014 – In a return to the Group’s residential mortgage roots, Bluestone acquires Basinghall Finance, an FCA regulated mortgage originator and servicer. It was subsequently re-branded as Bluestone mortgages.
2018 – Following a strategic decision to focus on the UK and Ireland markets, Bluestone sells its Australasian businesses, including its Manilla based contact centre.
2019 – Funds raised in the sale of the Australasian business helped further expansion in the UK. In 2019, Bluestone created a fintech business called Fignum. The business develops contemporary, web-based products in the payments, telephony and loan origination space.
2025 – Bluestone today –
Bluestone Credit Management is a specialist in credit management providing live portfolio servicing, arrears management, collections and purchasing services to creditors in the UK.