FROM THE AUDIENCE: CUTTING TURNAROUND TIMES What are you doing to reduce turnaround times using technology? Aaron Milburn: “While there needs to be a focus on the SLA time, there needs to be a focus on getting it right. We play in a space where people have been let down in the past. It takes a little bit of time to assess that and ensure the family get back up on their feet.”
“There are different ways of building that brand and one of them is providing good service” Murray Cowan, Better Mortgage Management Milburn explained some of Pepper’s other initiatives: sponsorship of Western Sydney Wanderers in the A-League and the Pepper Stadium Penrith for NRL. “I’ve tried for the All Blacks; I haven’t got that over the line yet,” quipped Milburn. Drawing on his own experience working for Westpac, Milburn observed that banks were becoming unable to provide any flexibility to borrowers, making non-banks increasingly important to borrowers. La Trobe’s Bannister continued this point, noting that in MPA’s Brokers on Non-Banks survey, 85% of brokers’ customers said they would be open to using a non-bank. “Brand awareness has always been an issue because we haven’t had the brand awareness or marketing power of the main banks,” noted Bannister, telling the panel about La Trobe’s sponsorship of Collingwood in the AFL and their upcoming sponsorship
of the National Basketball League. Bannister also took on the association of non-banks lenders with ‘sub-prime’ lending. “No lender in Australia would be operating in sub-prime; it’s gone. There’s no difference in standards between us and the major banks and that’s important for people to understand.” La Trobe has been around for 65 years, explained Bannister, taking a fundamentally different approach to the banks. “It’s not about high-volume lowmargin markets; that’s not what we want to play in.” Better Mortgage Management’s Cowan had the final word. BMM didn’t have the budget or appetite for extensive marketing, said Cowan; instead they focused on brokers: “We need to show respect for that and in return give them good service. There are different ways of building that brand and one of them is providing good service.”
Kim Cannon: “It’s no secret we have an online business and as we strive to improve that and build market share we improve our technology, and that technology flows back through to the brokers. Speed, reliability and consistency; that’s what we’re aiming for in the long term.” Daniel Carde: “The technology is what allows you to scale turnaround times. You still need people looking at deals; we still assess deals manually, the good old-fashioned way; you have to sometimes.” John Mohnacheff: “There’s one thing I’d like to add here and it’s a little controversial. Give us all the information upfront. Fill in the application form completely; don’t try and second-guess it, don’t try and withhold information. If every lender here got application forms packaged correctly, I guarantee you that turnaround times would dive.”
You can watch the full non-banks roundtable, including audience questions, for free on MPA’s website: http://www.mpamagazine.com.au/tv/
www.mpamagazine.com.au
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