SPECIAL REPORT
BROKERS ON NON-BANKS
LA TROBE FINANCIAL MPA: La Trobe Financial has jumped to second place from seventh last year. It was also listed as the preferred lender in three out of seven borrower groups (commercial, SMSF, foreign non-residents). What is behind the improvement?
2nd
Cory Bannister, senior vice president, chief of lending officer, La Trobe Financial: We’re delighted and honoured to receive such positive feedback. Recognition such as this is indicative of the great work performed by the whole team at La Trobe Financial, who all play a role in ensuring we provide financial solutions to underserved markets, making a tangible difference to people along the way. Whilst we can’t be sure of why brokers voted for us, we can say we worked incredibly hard on the following three areas and are hopeful they made an impact: 1. Increased broker footprint (+27%). In response to the strong demand from brokers to learn more about niche products, we expanded our Partnerships Team nationally to 30 people, in order to maintain our responsiveness and educational approach for brokers. 2. Delivering a broad product suite. We strive to offer the broadest product set, allowing brokers a one-stop experience for mortgage credit, which means that we are relevant to brokers for scenarios on a daily basis. 3. Providing stable product, price and policy settings in a complex and confusing market. We are often told by brokers that one of our greatest strengths is our stability. We have maintained product availability, a consistent credit policy and, above all else, a boutique personal service proposition that has been scaled with business growth, in a time when others have scaled back or withdrawn from market segments completely.
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LIBERTY
3rd
MPA: Liberty jumped from seventh place to third place this year. What has the non-bank been doing to work with brokers?
John Mohnacheff, group sales manager, Liberty: It’s our unrelenting focus on helping brokers and our broker partners build their businesses and help more customers get financial. The one thing we know is brokers value high-touch, personalised support. We have more BDMs than any other non-bank and non-major lender. We work with our brokers from scenario to settlement, and we continually do more sessions to equip and train brokers. Our customers are our brokers and, if you couple this with the relentless pursuit of having satisfied brokers, the situation becomes self-evident. Have we changed anything we have done? The answer is no. We have just increased our connectivity with our brokers. It’s not about the cheapest rate – it’s got to be a competitive rate. What the customer wants is a quick turnaround and to be satisfied in knowing they have a secure lender behind them that ticks all the boxes and provides them their home loan.
FIRSTMAC
4th
MPA: Firstmac was particularly praised for its turnaround times. How have you worked to ensure brokers and borrowers are not waiting for decisions?
Kim Cannon, managing director, Firstmac: Firstmac has worked hard to build a culture of personal service that is focused on helping brokers get their deals across the line. We are a friendly, close-knit team where everyone works together, and the answer to any question takes moments, not days. We have no bureaucracy to get lost in. If brokers choose us they can expect: • A common-sense approach – At every stage, we work with brokers to make their deals succeed. Our aim is always to come up with a solution for the client. • Consistency – We are consistent in all aspects of our service, credit and sales so the broker won’t have a deal fail unexpectedly. • A real alternative – We give brokers an excellent option for customers who are not keen to borrow from a big bank. We are careful to maintain a balanced number of office-based BDMs and on-the-road BDMs, which improves turnaround times because someone is always accessible to you. We also have a dedicated Sales Support Team. That means a dedicated person is committed to driving deals, from application to settlement.
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23/09/2019 4:02:04 PM