Pepper Group's plan to become a widely recognised consumer finance brand in local and international markets started to take shape during the June half, as the company notched up record loan originations in Australia and rolled out its new consumer brand Pepper Money.Pepper originated A$1.8 billion of mortgages in Australia during the six months to June - a 77 per cent increase over the previous corresponding period.Overseas it doubled lending revenue, with growth in key markets South Korea and Spain.About 50 per cent of pepper lending in Australia is through brokers, 40 per cent is through white label funding arrangements and ten per cent is through its new direct channel.Brokers number stood at 2100 last year and the company predicts that it will have 2700 accredited brokers by the end of this year.Growth in the white label market has been helped by the withdrawal of some lenders from that market."We like the white label business and opportunities have opened up as others have pulled back," said Pepper co-group chief executive Patrick Tuttle.As the company extends its distribution and brand awareness it is also broadening its product range from its non-conforming mortgage base. It sells prime and near-prime mortgages and in the six months to June it originated $310 million of loans in its new asset finance business.Pepper reported net profit of $24.4 million for the six months to June - up from $3.8 million in the previous corresponding period.On an adjusted basis, profit rose 41 per cent to $23.6 million. Adjustments included acquisition costs, the cost of a management incentive scheme, and investment costs.All the earnings growth came from Pepper international division, which increased pre-tax profit from $4.8 million to $21.2 million. Pepper's South Korean bank made a strong contribution.Australian and New Zealand earnings fell from $25.6 million to $24.9 million. The company said that a servicing performance fee of $7 million earned in the June half last year distorted the result and leaving that fee aside the pre-tax profit of the local business grew by 34 per cent.Loan originations in Australia and New Zealand grew by 77 per cent, with a strong contribution from the company's new asset finance division.Total assets under management grew by 44 per cent to $53 billion. Assets are made up of a $6.4 billion loan book and a $46.6 billion loan servicing portfolio.Pepper co-group CEO Mike Culhane said that in the asset servicing division Pepper added $8.3 billion acquired from Lloyds Bank  and had good ongoing flows of around $170 a month through its servicing contact with UK bank, Metro.Culhane said the majority of Pepper's loan servicing assets were in overseas markets