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APRA’s investor lending squeeze is minor compared to some of the other big challenges the broking industry has overcome in the past, says a major aggregator.
Connective director Mark Haron said the majority of brokers and their businesses have been strong and resilient in the face of the many significant changes within the industry in the past.
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“We’ve had challenges and changes in commission structures in the past. We’ve had our own licensing come into play with the NCCP. We’ve had the GFC,” he told The Adviser.
“Some [brokers] have had to change their models in a small way – some significantly. I know there are a few Connective brokers that were fairly heavily focused around the investment space, and have made small adjustments to their models.”
Mr Haron said it is hard to predict what the government or the regulators will do next, and brokers should not be spending their time worrying and trying to anticipate their next move.
“Brokers just need to get on with their business and focus on their customers and delivering great service to them,” he said.
“People will always need to borrow money because they always want to buy property, so brokers just need to go with the flow and run with that as much as they can, and the rest will take care of itself.”
Mr Haron said borrowers will now be more likely to choose brokers over banks, which in turn could lead to more business for brokers.
“The banks are in the same position as the brokers. It’s the banks’ policies that have been changed, and that affects them as much as it affects the brokers,” he said.
“It really positions brokers in a much better position for the customer to provide better advice around what is the best lender for their needs.”
Mr Haron added that brokers can also use this opportunity to educate their referral sources.
“Brokers’ referral sources will think that if they send their customer to a broker, they will be able to find somewhere to place the customer that is the right fit for them,” he said.
Mr Haron is not the only industry figure to recognise the opportunity for brokers to become educators of the investor lending changes.
Anthony Waldron, NAB’s executive general manager of broker partnerships, told The Adviser recently that brokers have a vital role to play in explaining the fast-changing lending landscape to borrowers.
“They’re in a much better position to be able to analyse that than the individual customer sitting at the back end, and that’s a fantastic position for the broker to be in,” he said.
