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Bankwest continues to work closely with brokers nationwide at a time of significant change for the industry and economic challenges in general
Bankwest has been working with brokers for more than 20 years, since the early 1990s when we were known as the R&I Bank. We’re recognised across the industry as one of the first financial institutions to enter the broker channel.
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More than two decades ago, we saw an opportunity to enter the broker channel at a time when few other banks were even considering it. And we continue to focus on this important channel which consistently delivers a terrific customer experience and broad business benefits.
Bankwest was founded in 1895 as the Agricultural Bank of WA and we’re a significant competitor in our home state of WA, while being viewed as a challenger brand across the other states.
As such, we have some products and policies in place to help us stand out from our competitors. But this is not our sole focus; our attention and energy is centred on delivering value to brokers and their customers across the board.
Although it must be acknowledged that it has been a challenging period for the industry with well-documented regulatory measures impacting investor lending among a throng of other economic influences and competitive considerations.
However, Bankwest remains committed to responsible lending and supporting a stable and sustainable housing market.
Our products have been competitively priced and we are working to simplify our product suite to ensure brokers easily understand what’s on offer and what best meets the needs of their customers.
We will continue to monitor this to ensure that we are growing sustainably in accordance with our risk appetite statement.
Bankwest continues to make great strides and improvements to our products, pricing, back-office systems and processes based on incredibly valuable (and often blunt) feedback from brokers.
Our one-to-one relationship model is unique, generating incredible broker satisfaction results on relationships established on the back of insightful broker feedback. We continue to receive fantastic feedback on it as well.
We have an outstanding team of business development managers and further support comes on a one-to-one basis with our business support managers, who are able to assist brokers throughout the application process. We are investing significantly in our processes in the short term and in transforming our home loan customer experience for the longer term.
Improving communication in regards to a deal application’s status is another outcome of direct broker feedback, allowing clear communication to drive better customer experiences.
Bankwest has some great initiatives that have been well received by our brokers, and perhaps the best example is our click-to-chat service, where brokers are able to instantly message a support colleague in order to quickly address many simple requests or enquiries. This exciting technology offering reflects both our digital experience and our focus on innovation.
Bankwest also has a number of exciting initiatives that will be rolled out over the year that will provide benefits to brokers. We will be launching a new upfront valuation portal, we will be refining our application processing and we are working towards a better on-boarding experience for our brokers’ customers.
We’re continuing to work with brokers to gain further feedback and integrate this into our ongoing strategy and the development of our offering.
Non-majors provide an attractive alternative; something we are seeing more and more consumers demand with each passing day.
Bankwest has strongly supported the third-party channel for a significant period of time and we will continue to do so as a key strategy moving forward.
Steward Saunders is general manager broker sales, retail
