![Broker](/images/News_stories/complex-850.jpg)
The need for brokers will remain high for as long as there are clients with complicated loan structures, HashChing has said.
Atul Narang, founder and chief information officer at HashChing said that technology was not going replace brokers “any time soon”, arguing that tools and fintechs that support the third party can assist brokers to generate business while saving time.
Further, Mr Narang told The Adviser that, as long as clients with complex loan needs or credit histories exist, demand for brokers will continue to be strong.
“There are consumers out there who have complicated loan structures in place and that's where the broker experience and expertise comes in,” he said.
“I don't personally feel there is any such system that exists at the moment that can automatically tell the consumer: 'Oh you've got three properties, you can derive equity from one property and merge the loan and consolidate the loan and this is the rate you can get’, so that's where the broker comes in, because they have to assess individual consumer situations.”
Last week, fintech startup Tic:Toc launched with the claim that it can approve loans within 22 minutes by providing real-time data evaluation.
Siobhan Hayden, chief operating officer at HashChing, said that it was “great” to see businesses “trying to showcase those elements” of efficiency by allowing the client the option to give access to all of their banking details online and an instant “tap” into all of their credentials. She observed that the pain point in that burgeoning market would be to do with trust.
“The friction point in the market would be one where customers are not yet trusting enough of a particular brand to provide their credentials to access their financial data and that’s a challenge for everybody in that space.”
“If you look at the preferred service model in Australia, when you look at either going directly online, going into a branch or talking to a broker, the overwhelming solution that consumers select is a broker partnership… so we're leveraging the preferred service model to ensure that consumers get the best possible experience.”
[Related: Lending in a time of change]