The regulatory crackdown on the mortgage broking sector has forced AFG Limited - the country's largest mortgage aggregator - to reconfigure its executive leadership group. Under a revamp announced by AFG chief executive David Bailey on Monday night, the company's veteran head of sales and distribution, Mark Hewitt, will take on the newly created role of general manager of "industry and partnership development". Bailey said Hewitt's new role would focus on promoting the interests of mortgage brokers to regulators, lending partners and policymakers. "During the recent challenges the mortgage broking sector has faced, Mark has played a significant role in ongoing advocacy of both AFG and the broader industry, stewarding much of the activity undertaken as our industry became a focus during the election campaign," Bailey said. "With the three-year review period now underway, the need for AFG and the industry more widely to represent our brokers positively in the eyes of regulators and government is even more important. "Mark will focus on our engagement with regulators and work to drive positive change across the industry." Hewitt, who has overseen the sales and distribution function for 13 years, will hand that responsibility to Chris Slater, the current head of AFG's home loans business. In the new role, Slater will manage distribution for all of AFG's retail products, while also continuing to build the commercial white label lending operation. Bailey's nine-member senior executive team will also be expanded with the appointment of a general manager with specific responsibility for the rapidly growing AFG Securities business. The AFG Securities arm manages a stable of securitisation vehicles that source funding for the group's white label home lending operation. In presentations to investors after the release of the first half result in February, Bailey indicated that the home loans business was being developed with a strategic focus of growing the AFG Securities book. AFG Securities (AFGS) grew settlements by A$473 million in the first half - up 173 per cent on the corresponding period in 2018. Growth in the funding of "near-prime" mortgages has been a feature of the AFGS's activities in the last 12 months. AFG's chief operating officer John Sanger and chief financial officer Ben Jenkins continue in their roles under the management revamp.