SPECIAL REPORT FEATURES
BROKERS ON AGGREGATORS
2021
BROKERS ON AGGREGATORS Find out how the aggregators fared in areas such as BDM support, compliance support, marketing support, and training and education in MPA’s annual survey AGGREGATORS HAVE worked incredibly hard over the last few years, supporting brokers through the royal commission, the subsequent discussion over remuneration, and then the COVID-19 outbreak. Their work is often done behind the scenes, but on top of providing hands-on training and education for brokers, they lobby lenders and work with industry bodies to fight for changes. The 2021 survey results are fairly positive about the support aggregators have given brokers in the last year, particularly around the technological changes they have had to introduce. They not only switched to virtual platforms for meetings but provided extra training webinars and video updates, as well as system updates that allowed brokers to upload digitally signed documents. During the past year brokers had to deal with lenders changing their policies and putting the brakes on new lending. They also saw a shift in demand coming from specific borrower segments as first home
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buyers and refinancers swamped the market. Aggregators had to step up to make sure brokers were supported with this unexpected surge of lending. In the first home buyer sector there were government incentives the aggregators needed to keep brokers abreast of, and to assist refinancers brokers also needed to understand all the changes to interest rates and cashback offers. Only 4% of brokers surveyed said their aggregator had not done enough for broker development. In fact, when asked a hypo thetical question on what might make them leave their aggregator, many said they would not even consider it. Brokers’ list of priorities remained fairly consistent with the previous year’s results. Accurate and on-time commissions continued to be their top priority, but IT and CRM support moved up the ranks from fourth place to second. This is no surprise, considering how much reliance on technology and aggregator CRMs there was over the last year.
Many brokers complimented their aggregators’ CRM systems, although when asked whether they had re-evaluated what they needed from their aggregators, a number of brokers commented that they wanted better CRM support. Compliance support moved down to third place in the priority list with the same score as last year. When it came to the best interests duty, brokers seemed content with aggregator support in that area. After a brief stint away from the bottom of the list in 2020, lead generation dropped back down to last place this year. This is possibly due to a change in sentiment, as last year brokers felt they needed more support in attracting new customers but subsequently saw a boom in business. Thank you to all the brokers who took part in the 2021 survey. Read on as, over the following pages, we dive into each of the categories in which they ranked the aggregators and reveal the results in more detail.
www.mpamagazine.com.au
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