Shaun Kendrigan , representing KPMG, the company's auditors, and Rebecca Maslen-Stannage , representing Herbert Smith Freehills, Freehills, the company's lawyers. In the unlikely event that we need to evacuate the building, please note the location of the exits, and I would ask that all mobile telephones be switched off until the conclusion of the meeting. Janna will shortly outline procedures for voting and questions at today's meeting. I'll then make a short address and invite Joint Chief Executive Officer, Chris Wyke, to do the same. Following this, we will proceed with the conduct of the formal business of the meeting. I'll now hand over to Janna to outline the question and voting procedures.
Thank you, Jeff. I'll set out the voting and question and answer procedures that we will use today. Firstly, in relation to voting procedures, as you registered today, you were issued with a purple, orange, or white-colored card. Purple cards are for shareholders entitled to speak and vote at the meeting. Orange cards are for shareholders who are entitled to speak, but not vote. And white cards are for visitors attending the meeting today. The notice of meeting sets out information regarding the resolutions to be put to today's meeting. There are five items on the agenda, four of which require a shareholder's vote. Details of the direct votes and proxies received for each item of business will be shown on the screen after discussion on that item of business. The chair is holding open proxies in his capacity as chair.
It is his intention to vote all available proxies in favor of each resolution. Each item of business at today's meeting will be conducted by way of a poll. The chair will ask you to cast your vote at the relevant time on each item of business, but only to hand in your voting card to the boardroom representative on conclusion of the meeting. The results of the vote will be available later today on the ASX and the MA Financial Group website. Please note that only shareholders, proxy holders, or shareholder representatives may vote. Moving on to the procedures for questions. We ask that shareholders who wish to ask questions on the various items outlined in the notice of meeting, do so when we reach the relevant agenda item, in the meeting. We will endeavor to answer as many questions from shareholders as we can.
This microphone I'm addressing you from will be used for shareholder questions. Would shareholders wishing to address the meeting, please approach the microphone once the chair invites questions for that agenda item. Please state your name and show either your purple or orange admission card. As a courtesy to all shareholders, please also state your affiliation if you are not here today in your personal capacity. Please note that in order to enable all shareholders a reasonable opportunity to be heard, all speakers are asked to limit their comments, and limit their questions to no more than two questions per resolution, and no more than ten questions in total. Please limit each question to no longer than two minutes. I would remind shareholders that questions must relate to the item of business under consideration. I will now hand back to the chair.
Thank you, Janna. Yeah, I'm extremely pleased with how the MA Financial Group has weathered the challenging year in 2023. The year characterized by rising interest rates, increased geopolitical tensions, and volatile investment markets. Our business has demonstrated its resilience and the benefits of a deliberate strategy to diversify our income streams. Record client inflows into our asset management funds, accelerating growth in MA Money's loan book, and the continued growth of Finsure's mortgage aggregation platform, highlights that we are on track to deliver our medium-term growth ambitions. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our people for their effort and commitment in delivering continued growth in our business platform in the face of challenging operating conditions. Group earnings per share in 2023 was down 32% on the previous year.
However, lower revenue and its impact on EPS can be attributed to a number of industry-wide related factors, such as depressed corporate advisory activity and weak investment markets that materially reduced performance fees relative to a very strong performance in 2022. These two factors underline the market-related and less predictable nature of such revenues, relative to our more predictable and growing recurring revenues. Revenues that we consider to be recurring in nature increased 23% year-over-year, driven by record inflows into our managed funds. In 2023, 66% of the group's revenue was derived from sources that we consider to be recurring in nature, well up from 48% in the prior year, thus significantly improving the quality of our earnings year-over-year.
Continued growth in recurring revenue and the group's operating metrics, such as our assets under management, provides the board with strong confidence in the medium-term outlook for the business. This, combined with the group's strong financial position, allowed the board to hold its 2023 dividend distribution in line with the prior year at AUD 0.20 per share, fully franked, despite the earnings decline, Joint CEO Chris Wyke will take you through, in more detail, the financial highlights of our business divisions shortly. The growth of MA Financial has been the result of many years of ongoing investment in our platform and our capability. Our track record demonstrates our ability to deliver on these strategic investments.
The significant client inflows that our asset management business is currently receiving into its private credit fund strategies, AUD 1.7 billion in 2023, are the result of initial investments we made in building our capability in this asset class way back in 2017 and 2018. Understanding back then, that growing investor demand for yield-based returns aligned with regulatory change for banks, would drive a new lending and investment opportunity in the years to come. As a result of our foresight and investment, we have built a strong team with a fantastic track record, that can continue to capitalize on the opportunity in private credit and deliver solid and consistent returns for our clients. In a similar vein, we continued to invest in strategic opportunities in 2023 that we believe will significantly benefit the future growth of the group.
This comes with a near-term earnings impact, which in 2023 was equivalent to AUD 0.05 per share of earnings. However, we very firmly believe in the value of investing today to reap the rewards in the future. The opportunities in which we are investing are significant. Building the capability and scale of our residential mortgage lender, MA Money, expanding into select offshore markets, and growing our marketing, brand, and distribution capabilities. Our investment in residential mortgage lender, MA Money, represents a near-term earnings drag to the business, but offers a significant opportunity to deliver highly scalable, highly scalable earnings growth over time. It harnesses a valuable opportunity to scale into Australia's AUD 2 trillion residential mortgage market by leveraging the pre-existing strategic strengths of the MA platform.
MA Money's loan book growth accelerated over the 2023 year, and is now over AUD 1.1 billion. This business is on track to deliver an anticipated net profit after tax of AUD 15 million to AUD 20 million in 2026. During the year, we expanded our offshore asset management distribution capability, opening a new office in Singapore, and establishing a digital distribution platform in Japan. In addition, Finsure expanded its operations to New Zealand, and has recently signed one of New Zealand's largest mortgage broker groups to its platform. We expanded our private credit business into the U.S. with the successful acquisition of Blue Elephant Capital Management in May, and have begun building our own distribution capability in the U.S. This represents a multi-billion-dollar opportunity in the world's largest credit market.
In October, we announced a significant milestone in the evolution of MA Financial Group, unveiling a new, strong, clear, and more recognizable logo. We believe this refresh is important as we expand into new markets and strive to become a trusted household name. Since our inception in 2009, we have always embraced change, seizing new opportunities for growth and adjusting as necessary to market dynamics. Evolving our look and feel is a natural progression in our journey, and we believe this investment in our brand will play a crucial role in positioning us for future success. Our mantra, "We invest, we lend, we advise," succinctly describes our multifaceted but complementary activities, providing clarity to our clients about the focus of our services. We're constantly balancing the need to invest for growth while delivering returns to shareholders in the near term.
The group is building several highly scalable business platforms in deep markets, both in Australia and offshore, that we believe will deliver significant growth over the medium term. The quality of our people remains the key to our ongoing success. We've invested in the retention and development of our key personnel and talent during a challenging year, acknowledging that attracting, developing, and retaining the best people is essential to the group's long-term success. We continue to refine our remuneration structures to provide appropriate incentivization for senior staff that aligns with positive shareholder outcomes over the medium term. Remuneration outcomes to senior executives were lower in 2023, reflecting the weaker earnings performance.
However, the board also pays attention to strategic progress and platform growth when determining executive remuneration outcomes, and we wish to encourage decision-making that delivers strong and consistent earnings growth over the medium to longer term. As MA Financial's activities grow and diversify, the board continues to enhance its focus on sustainability. Our third annual sustainability report reflects our maturity in environmental, social, and governance practices. In 2023, we developed a climate change action plan, taking steps that will enable us to advance our emission reduction targets in 2024. Simultaneously, we made significant investments in cybersecurity and other risk controls, corporate governance, and training. After adding three independent directors to our board in recent years, I'm delighted with the performance of the board during 2023.
Our independent directors bring a diverse range of skills, greatly contributing to the governance and oversight of the MA Financial Group. I'm extremely pleased with the blend of skills, contribution, and rhythm and harmony between all of your directors, and I believe we are positioned very well as a board to oversee the growth of the business. I extend my gratitude to our board, senior executives, and all employees for their continued hard work and dedication during 2023. I'd like to thank all of our shareholders for your ongoing support and confidence in MA Financial Group. I'll now ask Chris to address the meeting. Chris?
Thanks, Jeff, and all shareholders. Welcome to our annual general meeting, and thank you for your attendance today. My name is Chris Wyke, and together with Julian Biggins, I'm Joint Chief Executive Officer of MA Financial Group. It's my pleasure to address MA Financial's 2023 performance today and share some commentary on the first quarter of 2024. Our chair, Jeffrey Browne, has already detailed the strong underlying performance of our business in 2023 and the quality of the earnings result that we have delivered. Some of these highlights were record gross inflows of AUD 1.9 billion into our asset management funds, 18% growth in assets under management to AUD 9.2 billion, Finsure's loan book growing 21% to AUD 110 billion and adding over 500 net new brokers to its platform.
MA Money grew its loan book by 244% to AUD 829 million from a virtual standing start in January 2023. Revenue from recurring sources was up 23% to AUD 178 million. We are building a business for the medium to longer term. Our ambitions are significant, and the growth in these metrics gives us increased confidence that we are well placed to deliver on these ambitions.
With this in mind, we laid out our medium-term 2026 business targets during the year, which are AUD 15 billion of assets under management, AUD 190 billion of managed loans on the Finsure mortgage aggregation platform, a AUD 4 billion loan book for our residential mortgage lender, MA Money, measured growth in our corporate advisory business, delivering AUD 1.1 million to AUD 1.3 million of revenue per executive, and an EBITDA margin of 40%. The group remains on track to achieve these targets, which we believe will deliver significant shareholder value over the coming years. However, some investment is required to build the scalable platforms that will deliver this future growth. As the chair has already mentioned, this investment impacted earnings by AUD 0.05 per share in 2023.
We believe this investment in the medium term is prudent, and we are constantly balancing the need to invest in future growth while delivering attractive shareholder returns in the near term. MA Financial Group delivered an underlying net profit of AUD 41.6 million, equivalent to AUD 0.26 per share. This was down 32% on the 2022 result, as difficult markets impacted transactional and performance fees, coupled with the planned strategic investment I have just mentioned. This investment was into key growth areas such as MA Money, Middle technology, our US credit platform, brand, and our distribution platform. In relation to more detail in the various divisions, in particular, asset management, our asset management division is the major contributor to group earnings, delivering 78% of the group's underlying EBITDA in 2023.
Record gross inflows of AUD 1.9 billion, an increase of 27% on the previous year, were driven by strong growth into our two key private credit strategies, both of which surpassed the $1 billion funds under management mark in the year, and also investor demand for the MA Marina Fund, a new alternative asset class for the group. We further expanded our alternative real estate capability late in the year with the launch of the MA Accommodation Hotel Fund , which was seeded with the acquisition of the Vibe Hotel Docklands in Melbourne for AUD 96 million. At our IPO in 2017, we had a total of AUD 1.1 billion of assets under management and revenue of AUD 107 million.
Yet just six years later, we delivered AUD 270 million in revenue and had AUD 9.2 billion of assets under management. Asset management inflows in 2023 alone materially exceeded our total AUM at listing. It is very satisfying to us that our dual focus on achieving attractive earnings while innovating and investing for long-term growth is working. In relation to our lending and technology business, the development of our residential lending marketplace within the lending and technology division continued at pace in 2023. Our strategy is to create a technology-enabled, highly scalable lending ecosystem that generates fee-based income through its market-leading technology platforms and spread income from its lending capability. The division will leverage the group's funding advantages to grow in a capital efficient manner.
Finsure continues to strongly grow its managed loans and broker market share, with the number of mortgage brokers on its award-winning platform increasing to 3,129, up 19% from the previous year. Middle, our proprietary technology platform that materially improves the digital data collection process for mortgage brokers and borrowers, began to gain traction in the second half of 2023. It is now well on its way to processing approximately AUD 1 billion of loans monthly by the end of the current half. The group's new residential mortgage lender, MA Money, grew its loan book by 244%, AUD 829 million at December 31. It built momentum over the year.
We will continue to invest in MA Money's product and platform, which is a near-term drag on earnings, but represents a significant opportunity to scale into Australia's AUD 2 trillion residential mortgage market. We see MA Money as becoming run rate breakeven in the second half of 2024, and on track to deliver AUD 15 million-AUD 20 million of NPAT by 2026, delivering a significant earnings upswing to the group. In relation to our corporate advisory and equities business, our corporate advisory and equities division demonstrated resilience in the face of challenging market conditions, which impacted transaction timelines and equity capital market activity levels. Despite these challenges, we successfully advised on a range of transactions totaling AUD 3.5 billion.
In 2023, the division strategically expanded by hiring senior metals and mining expertise, positioning itself to meet the increasing client demand for natural resources, advisory, and execution. This investment in executive talent during FY 2023, notwithstanding the challenging corporate advisory environment, reflects our ongoing confidence in the corporate advisory and equities business. Looking forward, we anticipate an improving transactional landscape, as evidenced by our strength in transaction pipelines in 2024. I'll also comment a little bit on capital management. The group's financial position remains strong, with a robust balance sheet and a strong underlying business performance, allowing the board to maintain the 2023 fully franked dividend in line with the prior year at AUD 0.20 per share. During the year, the group recycled in excess of AUD 100 million from prior investments into cash, while reinvesting a similar amount to support new growth and strategic initiatives.
In 2023, in December 2023, the group successfully increased the size of its revolving working capital facility from AUD 40 million to AUD 80 million. The facility upsize will provide the group with additional liquidity and flexibility, reducing the need to hold excessive cash balances. I'll now turn to some commentary from the first quarter of this year, 2024. In late April, we updated the market on a positive start to 2024, with the momentum in the group's recurring revenue business lines continuing into this current year. In the first quarter of 2024, the group continued to experience positive underlying business momentum, including strong asset management fund inflows, ongoing growth in Finsure managed loans and broker numbers, plus accelerating MA Money loan volumes. However, the challenging macro environment continues to subdue transactional activity, impacting corporate advisory activity, transaction, and performance fees.
The group has continued to invest in future growth initiatives, consistent with what was outlined at our 2023 result back in February. The impact of this investment spend on earnings will be heavily weighted approximately two-thirds to the first half of 2024, as the group builds its U.S. based distribution capability and continues to bring MA Money's lending platform to scale. Some key highlights during the quarter were gross fund inflows of AUD 514 million. This is up 43% compared with the same period in 2023, and the highest ever received by MA's funds in the first quarter of the year. Assets under management grew to AUD 9.6 billion on March 31, 2024, up from AUD 8 billion at the first quarter in 2023, and up from AUD 9.2 billion as at December 31, 2023.
Finsure continued to strongly grow the number of brokers using its platform, increasing to 3,260 as at 31 March, up 20% on a year earlier. Finsure expanded into the New Zealand market, and in April, signed Vega Mortgages, one of New Zealand's largest mortgage broker groups, to its platform, adding 120 new brokers. MA Money's loan book to AUD 1.1 billion by 31 March 2024, up 294% from a year earlier. Competitive pressures in the Australian mortgage market remain elevated. However, MA Money remains on track to deliver a breakeven earnings run rate in the second half of this year. Transaction pipeline in the corporate advisory business remains strong, with good activity levels in the business.
However, the operating environment does remain challenging, which makes execution, timing, and completion more uncertain, consistent with the broader investment banking market. The group also successfully closed off a AUD 55 million offering of senior unsecured notes, accessing Australian wholesale debt markets for the first time. The net cash proceeds from the notes were subsequently used to refinance the existing AUD 13 million corporate bond that was due in May 2024, with the remainder going to support ongoing growth initiatives. So in summary, we remain confident about the positioning of the business and the significant growth opportunities across all divisions. We are focused on continuing to drive the positive momentum in our business to deliver on our 2026 targets and realize the scale benefits of the multiple and diverse business platforms that we have been building. We're all very excited for what the future holds for our business.
We thank our clients for their ongoing support and the trust they place in MA Financial Group, and we thank our people and their families for their effort and ongoing commitment to the growth in MA Financial. Everything accomplished in 2023 was made possible by the commitment and hard work of our team, for which we express our immense gratitude, and we extend our particular appreciation for our shareholders for their continued support and confidence shown in our board and management team. We look forward to keeping you informed of our progress throughout 2024. Thank you.
Thanks, Chris. I now turn to the first item of business on today's agenda, which is to receive and consider the financial report of the company, its controlled entities, and the reports of the directors and auditor for the year ended 31 December 2023. These reports were released on the ASX as part of the annual report on 22 February 2024. They were also published on the company's website. The text of the first item of business is shown on the screen. Neither the Corporations Act or the company's constitution requires a vote of shareholders on these reports, but this is an opportunity for shareholders to ask questions in relation to the reports. Please note, any questions on the remuneration report will be dealt with when we reach the relevant agenda item later in the meeting.
I now invite questions you may have on this item of business or in general, questions about the management of the company. As mentioned by Janna, in order to enable all shareholders a reasonable opportunity to be heard, all speakers are asked to please limit themselves to no more than two questions at a time at the microphone. Janna, do we have any questions?
We have a pre-submitted question from John Sabjak. The question asks: Why is it that the board has not allowed a fully hybrid meeting to enable all shareholders to fully participate in the AGM, rather than allowing Sydney-based residents only this ability? Will the board commit to having fully hybrid AGMs in the future?
No, I think the physical form of a meeting, supported by a webcast, is the most appropriate for a company of this size, noting that any shareholders wishing to submit questions do have an opportunity to do so prior to the meeting or to appoint a proxy to come along to the meeting.
Thank you, and one further, pre-submitted question from Peter Tebbutt on behalf of, Penpeach Pty Limited. MA Money seems to be a drag on earnings at the moment. Can you tell me why the push into residential lending?
Well, simply because of the upside. The residential market in Australia is the largest credit market and offers a significant scale opportunity to grow, given our pre-existing capabilities. We have strong expertise in credit and lending, distribution capability in Finsure, and a strong technology enablement. MA Money, as I said earlier in my address, is targeted to deliver between AUD 10 million and AUD 15 million in net profit after tax in 2026, delivering a very strong return on our initial investment, most of which was made in the 2023 year. Any further questions? No further questions. In relation to item 2A on the agenda, it's obviously appropriate that I hand over to our Vice Chairman, Andrew Pridham. Andrew?
Thanks, Jeff. Item 2A on today's agenda is the re-election of Jeffrey Browne as a director of the company. The text of the resolution is shown on the screen, together with the details of the voting already received on this item. Jeffrey Browne is offering himself for re-election at this meeting. Just a short bio of Jeff. Jeff, Jeffrey is the independent chair and non-executive director, appointed to the board of the company on 27 February 2017. He's also the president of the currently seventh ranked rated Collingwood Football Club. Premiers as well, so I'll just throw that in. He was a senior executive, winner one year, not so much the next. Senior executive of Nine Network Australia from 2006 to 2013, including managing director from 2010 t o 2013.
He was previously chair of Carsales.com and holds a degree in Arts from the La Trobe University and a degree in Law from the Monash University. The board recommends, with Jeffrey having abstained, that shareholders vote in favor of item 2A. I would now invite any questions that we may have on this item of business. No questions, none from the floor? No, I'm surprised. All right, thank you. As there are no further questions, if you could please complete your voting cards on item 2A, and I'll now hand back to Jeffrey.
Thank you, Andrew. If we don't win the Premiership again this year, I hope you do, but perhaps we might play off. Be a very tense week. Thank you for that endorsement by shareholders in relation to my re-election. I'm very grateful and very privileged to serve you and this company. Item 2B on today's agenda is the re-election of Alexandra Goodfellow as a director of the company. The text of the resolution is shown on the screen, together with the details of the voting already received on this item. Alexandra is offering herself for re-election at the meeting. Alexandra is an independent, non-executive director, chairs the Nomination and Remuneration Committee, and was appointed to the board of the company on 19th August 2020.
Alexandra is the Vice Chair of Korn Ferry Australasia, and has 35 years' experience in executive search and human capital consulting, advising clients at board, CEO, and C-suite level, assisting with organizational strategy, assessment and succession, executive search, and leadership development. The board, with Alexandra abstaining, recommends that shareholders vote in favor of item two B. I now invite any questions you may have in relation to this item. Janna, any questions? No questions. Okay, move to item two C, which is the re-election of Simon Kelly as a director of the company. The text of the resolution is shown on the screen, together with the details of the voting already received in relation to this item. Simon is offering himself for re-election at this meeting.
Simon Kelly is an independent, non-executive director, chairs the Audit and Risk Committee, and was appointed to the board of the company on twenty-first April, two thousand and twenty-one. Simon has over 30 years' experience in strategic, financial, and general management in Australian listed and unlisted consumer businesses. He's Chief Executive Officer of technology startup NoahFace, and has previously held C-suite level roles at Ardent Leisure, Virgin Australia, Nine Entertainment Company, Aristocrat Leisure, and Goodman Fielder. Simon holds a Bachelor of Economics and Accounting with honors, and is a member of the Chartered Accountants of Australia and New Zealand, a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. The board, with Simon abstaining, recommends that shareholders vote in favor of item 2 C, and I now invite any questions that you may have in relation to this item. Janna, are there any questions?
There are no questions.
No questions. Thank you. I now move to item two D. Item two D on today's agenda is the re-election of Kate Pilcher Ciafone as a director of the company. The text of the resolution is shown on the screen, together with details of the voting already received. Kate is offering herself for re-election at this meeting. Kate is a Non-Executive Director and was appointed to the board of the company on 19 August 2020. Kate is the Chief Operating Officer and a founding member of Moelis & Company. Kate has over 20 years of experience as a banker and operating executive in investment banking. She commenced her career with UBS before joining Moelis & Company in 2007. Kate holds a Bachelor of Science in Commerce with distinction from the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia.
The board, with Kate abstaining, recommends the shareholders vote in favor of item 2 D. Janna, are there any questions in relation to this item?
Yes, a pre-submitted question. Tony Waters for QVG Capital asks the following question: It's common to see ASX company boards with directors lacking executive experience in the company's specific industry. Given this, what benefits does MA Financial gain from having Moelis & Company representatives on the board?
Well, Kate has extensive experience in relation to investment banking, and is a very senior executive in Moelis & Company, our very important strategic partner in the US. Moelis & Company provides international perspective and experience in global expansion within the group sector, which is particularly valuable, more so now in view of MA's expansion into the US, and Kate's assistance and input of that, input into that has been invaluable. Kate has a deep industry knowledge and brings skills to the board from her over 20 years banking experience. She also brings expertise in remuneration, people, and technology experience. Question wasn't in relation to Ken, but I should add also that our other Moelis director, Ken Moelis's, unique and unparalleled profile and success as a banker and corporate advisor.
His profile, together with his experience, access, insight into areas such as strategic thinking, geopolitics, business building, brand and marketing, make his and Kate's contribution invaluable to the growth of MA Financial. No further questions? I now move to item three on the agenda, which relates to the adoption of the company's remuneration report for the year ended December 31, 2023. The text of the resolution is shown on the screen, together with the details of the voting already received on this item. The remuneration report sets out the remuneration policies of the company and reports on the remuneration arrangements in place for the company's key management personnel during the year. As prescribed by the Corporations Act, the vote on the adoption of the remuneration report is advisory only, and does not bind the directors or the company.
However, the board will take into account the outcome of today's vote and discussion at this meeting in setting remuneration policy going forward. The board unanimously recommends the shareholders vote in favor of item three, and as you can see from proxy votes on the screen, there has been a material vote against the remuneration report. Having said that, I do expect that when votes are cast by those present at this meeting today, I expect that the resolution will be passed by a more than 75% majority. We do consider the remuneration outcomes for 2023 to be appropriate. However, over the past month or so, we had a number of discussions with shareholders and proxy advisors, and we will consider that feedback and provide ongoing refinement in relation to our incentive and reward structure.
Janna, are there any questions in relation to this item?
There is one pre-submitted question, and it is from Josh Clark, and the question is: For KMP to achieve their long-term incentives, the performance hurdle requires 12% EPS CAGR growth from calendar year 2023 through to 2027. Is this the sort of LTI hurdle we should expect in the future?
Well, the answer is yes. We believe if the business can deliver a 12% EPS CAGR over that period of time, that's an excellent result, and really, the particular executives should be rewarded appropriately.
Thank you. There are no further pre-submitted questions. Perhaps one from the floor.
Yes. If you want to go to the microphone, I can hear you if you want to stand there.
My name's Andrew Ray, representing my super company. What was the gist of the reason for those people voting against it?
Their concerns in relation to the short-term incentive, which was awarded to Chris and Julian as the joint CEOs, is that incentive is divided into two parts. 50% for non-financial matters, 50% for financial matters, and there are targets within that 50% for financial matters, ROE and EPS targets, which were not met. However, as I've mentioned, you heard Chris mention earlier, there are other things that the board took into account in exercising its discretion to award Chris and Julian 40% of that entitlement.
Those include the growth in assets under management, the improvement in the quality of the earnings through the escalation of recurring revenues, the investment in the MA Money platform, which recall, is slated to deliver between AUD 15 million and AUD 20 million to the bottom line in 2026. What happened, in order to invest in that, we needed to apply some capital to that. That capital of between AUD 7 million and AUD 8 million devoted to that, together with our expansion into the U.S. and growing our platform in the U.S., provided an earnings drag of about AUD 0.05 per share. So we delivered 26 against consensus of around 28, but we actually invested 5 points of earnings in that growth. And we're very confident in the figures I've quoted to you in relation to MA Money.
We're very optimistic and excited about our growth into the U.S., and we believe that that investment will prove to be an outstanding investment for the company over the medium term. So because our executives took the decision to effectively compromise earnings growth or earnings performance to invest in the business, was something we thought they should not be punished for. They should actually be rewarded for. But bear in mind, in relation to those, that financial component of the short-term incentive, they were only awarded 40%. Executive remuneration, their executive STI remuneration across the board was down by about 31%, reflecting the earnings results. So we did respond to that.
But in relation to Chris and Julian, their input in relation to the matters that I've described are setting this company up for very serious growth in the short and medium term. So I think when speaking, you ask me a question again in 2 years' time, I think I'll be able to say to you with a lot of confidence and pride that we've achieved the benefits of those investments. So they were rewarded for that foresight. Any other questions? No other questions. So I'll now go to items 4A and 4B. Are these shown together? Yes, they are. These relate to the approval in respect of the amendment of the performance period of the long-term incentive award granted to directors in March 2024, and as I said, they're set out in the notice on the screen.
The board, other than Chris Wyke, Julian Biggins, and Andrew Pridham, unanimously recommends that shareholders vote in favor of items 4A and 4B. Details of the voting received in relation to each item are now displayed on the screen. Are there any questions in relation to this item of business? Thank you. As there are no questions, could you now complete your voting cards for items 4A and 4B. I now turn to items 5A, 5B, and 5C, which relate to the approval sought in respect of the proposed issue of shares to the executive directors as part of long-term incentive arrangements in March 2025, as set out in the notice of meeting. The text of the resolutions is shown on the screen.
The board, other than Chris Wyke, Julian Biggins, and Andrew Pridham, unanimously recommend that shareholders vote in favor of items five A, five B, and five C. Details of the voting received in relation to those items are now displayed on the screen. Are there any questions in relation to this item? Yeah, none. None, thank you. As there are no questions, could you now complete your voting cards in relation to items five A, five B, and five C. Could you please ensure that you place your voting card in the ballot boxes near to the exit to the room? Very important that you do so, given that some votes are fairly close in relation to certain consequences.
I should add again that the board unanimously has endorsed all of the resolutions put before you today, for the reasons that both I and Chris have explained in our address, essentially, relating to the investments we've made in the company to set us up for a very bright medium-term future. This now concludes the meeting. The results of the poll will be announced later today on the ASX, and will be published on the company's website. Thank you very much. Yeah, sorry?
Question.
Yeah, of course you can.
Just to talk about the share price, the price of share price of the company. I know our situation on daily, which are shareholder. But any comments about how it's going to move, affects the problem?
Yeah. Yeah.
Um, yeah.
Yeah, I've long since given up predicting where the share price will go, but what I can speak to is the strength, the underlying strength in the business, which ordinarily and fairly naturally should flow through to the share price. What you've heard today is a lot about the investments we've made in the medium-term future of the business. When we reported, the share price did take a dip, but once the explanation for that was digested, that is the five points of earnings per share that we reinvested in our mortgage broking business and our US expansion. Once that was understood, it started to recover fairly quickly in the weeks after the result.
What I've endeavored to do today, and what Chris has endeavored to, is to explain some more background in relation to those investments, the investments, and express the confidence of the board in the ability of those investments to deliver strong EPS growth in the future. Noting that what we've said in relation to MA Money, is that we, we expect AUD 15 million to AUD 20 million to NPAT, that's the bottom line, in 2026. So ordinarily, you'd expect the share price to respond favorably to that. It should, and I hope so, but I can't guarantee that.
But I believe as a company investing in the financial services business, with the changes that we've made, with the quality of the board and the senior executives and all the staff who are committed to success, I'm very confident that we will deliver strong earnings growth over the medium term. I encourage you to stick with us and stay on the horse. Thank you. Any further questions? Happy to take any questions anyone might have wanted to ask, but didn't get a chance in relation to the other resolutions. No, I... No? So I now declare the meeting closed, subject to finalization of the poll, and I invite you to join us on the terrace for drinks, refreshments, and perhaps some opportunity to ask directors or executives other questions more privately. Thanks, everyone, for your attendance.