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Canstar Research Team

Canstar’s Research Team provides the expertise that powers our Star Ratings and Awards, designed to help consumers make better informed financial decisions. As Australia’s biggest financial comparison site, Canstar researches and rates products from more than 775 brands, across more than 30 finance categories. Our expert researchers analyse each product we rate by comparing price and features, with the top products being recognised with a five star Star Rating. These ratings are made available for consumers to view for free via Canstar’s comparison tables.

Learn more about Canstar’s Star Ratings process and about Canstar.

View our current ratings and awards.

Mitch Watson, General Manager, Research and Insights

Master of Business Administration and Management, Griffith University

Mitch Watson

Mitch Watson is the General Manager for Canstar’s Research and Ratings area, with responsibility for Canstar’s Research program across Banking, Insurances, and Wealth and Utilities. Through this work, Mitch and his team assist Australian and New Zealand consumers identify products of value through Canstar’s flagship Star Ratings and Awards releases. Mitch’s role at Canstar sees him deliver compelling insights that help people make informed decisions about their personal finances and businesses develop more customer-centric products.

As a finance expert and spokesperson for Canstar, Mitch prides himself on providing balanced views on the latest news in the marketplace, to paint a clear picture for consumers. Mitch’s insights have been featured over the years in the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and the Brisbane Times, along with The Daily Telegraph and The Courier-Mail. He has also contributed commentary to online news sites including Domain.com.au, news.com.au, realestate.com.au, Yahoo Finance, and mortgage broking trade outlets such as Broker News and Mortgage Business. He has also featured on ABC Radio, Seven News (7NEWS) and Nine News (9News).

Mitch has worked at Canstar for over a decade, initially boosting his industry and product knowledge as a Relationship Manager, before moving to the Research team as a Research Analyst. During this time Mitch was responsible for a range of lending and insurance portfolios, including Home Loans and Health Insurance.

Mitch is experienced at analysing detailed financial product data to identify key product differentiators and industry trends across product lines for home loans, health insurance, online share trading and margin lending. He also brings excellent product knowledge across financial topics ranging from deposit accounts to credit cards, business loans, personal loans, risk insurance and general insurance.

Connect with Mitch Watson on LinkedIn.

Joshua Sale, Group Manager, Research & Ratings

Bachelor of Commerce, Economics/Finance dual major, Griffith University. Master of Data Science, Strategy and Leadership, RMIT (ongoing studies)

Joshua Sale

Joshua Sale is responsible for developing the methodology and delivering Canstar’s flagship Star Ratings, as part of Canstar’s Research team. With tertiary qualifications in economics and finance, he enjoys helping Australians find more suitable financial products by transforming complex calculations into a consumer-friendly Star Rating that explains the values and benefits of different financial products.

As one of Canstar’s company spokespeople, Joshua has participated in print, radio and broadcast interviews with the likes of the Australian Financial Review, news.com.au and Money magazine, along with other leading media outlets, discussing topics such as home loan equity, banking incentive schemes, digital wallets and wider finance trends.

Joshua is known for his ability to simplify complex products and technical information, crunching the data into meaningful insights for consumers about finance. He has analysed several consumer markets across banking, insurance and wealth, and is keenly interested in various topics, ranging from how Australians interact with their superannuation funds, to the dynamic nature of the health insurance market, and collecting and redeeming credit card reward points.

Joshua believes that knowledge is the first step towards empowerment. Even while studying, he facilitated peer-assisted study sessions for economics, and represented his University’s Business School in an academic committee.

Connect with Joshua Sale on Linkedin

Henry Harbeck, Data Engineer

Bachelor of Business (Finance) with Distinction, QUT

Henry Harbeck is responsible for maintaining and ensuring the reliability of the Research team’s database tables, calculation models, data quality tools and reporting that underpin Canstar’s flagship Ratings and Awards program. 

In his role, Henry works closely with the company’s Research Analysts to incorporate the methodologies for the various products Canstar rates into its data and models to ensure we are giving consumers everything they need to compare products with confidence. He also works with Canstar’s data and research teams to deliver timely data insights and data quality reporting.

Henry enjoys combining his financial product knowledge and technical skills to translate business requirements into technical solutions. He also relishes the opportunity to help people make better informed financial decisions in a market often characterised as being a complex maze to navigate. 

Using Canstar’s data to snag a good deal for himself, Henry has used his time at Canstar to make strides towards saving for a house deposit and building towards his financial goals. Henry joined Canstar in 2018 after completing an internship while in his final semester at QUT studying Finance. 

Connect with Henry Harbeck on LinkedIn

Keely Robinson, Lead Analyst - Wealth & Insurance

Bachelor of Business (Finance and Marketing) with Distinction, QUT

Keely Robinson is Canstar’s Lead Analyst for insurance and wealth products, responsible for the development and delivery of the Star Ratings and Awards for those areas. With a strong focus on making insurance and wealth products more understandable and comparable for Australian consumers, Keely leads her team to assist consumers in navigating the intricacies of the products in the market. 

Keely uses her knowledge of the market dynamics in the wealth and insurance space, as well as consumer behaviour, and the regulatory environment to simplify complexities, provide insights, and empower consumers to make informed choices. Since joining in November 2019, she has been dedicated to continuously enhancing Canstar’s methodologies and unravelling complex data ensuring that Canstar’s Star Ratings reflect the pulse of the market. 

Connect with Keely Robinson on LinkedIn.

Christian Wilkinson, Lead Analyst - Banking

Bachelors of Mathematics (Statistics) with Distinction & Bachelor Business (Finance) with Distinction, QUT

As Lead Analyst for banking, Christian is responsible for the development and delivery of Canstar’s Star Ratings and Awards within the banking portfolio. As an analyst who “loves data and a great deal”, Christian provides expertise and leadership to his team who collate and analyse the data used to produce Canstar’s flagship program of work. 

Christian uses his knowledge of consumer behaviour, market dynamics and the regulatory environment to help shape the banking ratings and shed light on products that may no longer be as competitive as they once were. Christian relishes the opportunity to have a positive impact on a consumer’s life, with a home loan interest rate even a few basis points lower, potentially saving thousands of dollars over the life of a loan. 

He’s put the lessons learned about the financial sector to good use in his personal life too, currently investing in global stock markets whilst saving to enter the property market.

Connect with Christian Wilkinson on LinkedIn.

Sam Halpin, Senior Research Analyst

Bachelor of Psychology (Honours), UQ

Sam Halpin is Senior Research Analyst at Canstar in the specialist research area of general banking products, including savings and transaction accounts, online banking, and travel-related products. With a background in behavioural statistics, Sam collates and analyses data about financial products and services, applying Canstar’s sophisticated Ratings methodology to create its expert Star Ratings and Awards. He was recently instrumental in forming Canstar’s first Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) award regime, designed to help consumers make better financial decisions around this developing finance sector. 

Sam joined Canstar in 2020, and was eager to apply the disciplines and knowledge learned from his study of psychology to helping people navigate the complex world of finance. A highlight of the role has been the ability to apply his product knowledge to avoid some of the common pitfalls associated with choosing the wrong products. 

Since joining Canstar, Sam has extended his knowledge in computer science, currently studying Structured Query Language (SQL). 

Connect with Sam Halpin on LinkedIn.

Alex McGuire, Research Analyst

Bachelor of Business (Finance) with Distinction, QUT

Alex is a Research Analyst who works across banking, insurance and wealth verticals, with a particular interest in insurance products. In his role Alex is responsible for conducting market and provider analysis for Canstar’s flagship Star Ratings and Awards program.

Alex was closely involved with the launch of the inaugural Home Loans Refinance Awards in November 2022, which were released at a pivotal time for home owners wrestling with climbing interest rates.

Alex previously worked at Suncorp Bank as a Senior Consultant, where he was responsible for small business, home and equity lending. Through this process he gained knowledge of a wide range of personal finance products as he helped guide consumers interested in consolidating other banking products into their account.   

Using his finance insights from working at Canstar, Alex has made his money work harder for him by switching credit cards, taking out a top-rated home insurance policy and diving into the investment world by signing up with a 5-Star share trading platform. 

Connect with Alex McGuire on LinkedIn.


Snithin Ranjit, Graduate Research Analyst

Bachelor of Technology (Computer Science Engineering), Masters in Data Science , JCU

Snithin Ranjit works as part of the Research team to collate data for the banking and insurance portfolios that is used for the basis of Canstar’s expert Star Ratings and Awards.

Snithin joined Canstar in 2022 and has relished the opportunity to help consumers navigate the complex domain of insurance and banking, as well as encouraging healthy competition between providers who may choose to improve their offerings and customer service to better compete in the ratings.

A highlight for Snithin during his time at Canstar has been building the rating for home and content insurance in New Zealand from the ground up.

Connect with Snithin on LinkedIn.

 


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Last updated: 05/07/2023

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