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Brokers can no longer apply for new Heritage Bank home loans, as People First Bank retires the brand and transitions to a merged entity.
As part of an ongoing rebrand and reorganisation of its business, People First Bank has announced that it will no longer be offering Heritage Bank-branded mortgages.
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People First Bank, the unified brand formed after the merger of mutual lenders Heritage Bank and People’s Choice Credit Union, has been working to position its products, services, and technology under the new brand.
For the past year, the group has been operating both Heritage Bank and People’s Choice Credit Union brands; however, it has now begun turning off some of the former branding as it transitions to become unified under the People First Bank brand.
As part of the move, the banking group has now announced that it has ceased accepting new loan applications through the Heritage Bank brand (effective 20 January). Current customers can still apply for lending top-ups through Heritage Bank.
Given the bank does not yet have a People First Bank product line, all new loan applications must now be submitted through People’s Choice Credit Union for an “interim period”.
Brokers who were accredited with Heritage Bank but are not yet accredited with People First Bank or People’s Choice Credit Union are being advised to contact business development managers (BDMs) for assistance.
Speaking to The Adviser, Michael Sancilio, People First Bank's head of connected channels and partnerships, said: "As we continue to integrate our operations following the merger that created People First Bank, we are transitioning new customer applications through to the People’s Choice platform.
"To support our existing Heritage Bank customers, accredited brokers will continue to be able to submit applications through to Heritage Bank as required – it will just be processed through the People’s Choice platform," he continued.
"At this stage, we’ve transitioned only some of our aggregator broker groups, and a number of brokers from these groups. If there are existing Heritage-accredited brokers looking to submit new customer applications to People’s Choice, then I encourage them to reach out to their BDM.
"For brokers who have Heritage Bank clients, there is no change to the way they service them. We’ll soon be communicating the increased support model that will help in managing this portfolio," he said.
Sancilio concluded: "As we work to finalise our target operating model, we’re balancing the transition of brokers to ensure we are setting them up for success. Part of this transition is to increase the level of education for our brokers by ensuring they are trained in the People’s Choice product, policies and processes.
"We’ve already held a number of these sessions and regular supporters of Heritage Bank can reach out to their BDM to discuss the accreditation options."
Who is People's First Bank?
People’s Choice and Heritage Bank first merged in March 2023 to form a banking group that had around $18 billion in loans and advances.
It has been rapidly growing since the merger and boosted its residential loan book by 6.8 per cent over the financial year ending June 2024, taking it from $18.3 billion to $19.6 billion.
Over FY24, it settled $4.7 billion in new mortgages.
The bank said at the time that its “strong results” were partly due to its “growing focus on the broker channel," which settled $3.1 billion – or 66 per cent – of the bank’s new flows.
Overall, broker lodgements were up 15.8 per cent on the previous year’s $2.7 billion, spread across 6,787 new loans, 9.2 per cent more than last year.
People First Bank will supersede the other brands and unite the customer-owned lender’s products and services under one roof.
The mutual banking space has experienced a raft of merger activity in the past year, with the banking business of insurance mutual Australian Unity set to be acquired by Bank Australia.
The long-delayed merger between G&C Mutual Bank and Unity Bank is expected in March this year.
Other banking mergers that have been proposed in the last year include a venture between Tasmanian-based lender MyState Limited (MyState) and Bundaberg-headquartered lender Auswide Bank (Auswide), which is set for member vote on 3 February 2025.
[Related: A mutual merger 4 years in the making now confirmed]
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