ME Bank has announced that it has partnered with a major brokerage brand and will hire three new business development managers to support the third-party channel.
The non-major bank – which first entered into the broker channel in 2011 – has announced that it has partnered with Mortgage Choice, enabling it to work with the broking brand’s 500-strong broker force and allowing for Mortgage Choice brokers to offer its products.
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Given the bank’s expanding broker reach, ME Bank has said that it will hire three new business development managers (BDMs) to onboard, accredit and support its growing broker channel, including the new Mortgage Choice brokers.
ME Bank’s chief executive officer, Jamie McPhee, commented: “ME first established a broking channel in 2011, and partnering with one of Australia’s best-known brokerages, Mortgage Choice, adds an important piece to our mortgage strategy.
“The partnership provides ME with another major ‘shopfront’ to broaden the distribution of our home loans nationally while giving Mortgage Choice customers greater choice and a more competitive home loan offering,” he said.
Echoing comments made at ME’s panel on the Future of Broking in Sydney last month – where Mr McPhee said that the bank “wouldn’t survive without the broker community” – he added that brokers currently write around 70 per cent of ME’s new home loans.
The ME Bank CEO said that brokers had therefore allowed the bank to “compete with larger banks and, more importantly, have provided the ability for ME to connect with those borrowers”.
“Without mortgage brokers, ME could not fully realise its core purpose of helping Australians get ahead through home ownership.
“This partnership with Mortgage Choice helps more people to realise their property dreams,” he said.
Mortgage Choice CEO Susan Mitchell likewise welcomed ME Bank to the company’s lender panel.
“The addition of ME Bank to the Mortgage Choice lender panel further strengthens our product offering and aligns with our goal to cater to our customers’ ever-evolving needs.
“It better enables our broker network to help more Australians realise their dream of home ownership,” Ms Mitchell added.
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