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Sweeping changes to the management structure around its multi-brand strategy will not affect Westpac's approach to third party distribution.
Yesterday, St George’s general manager third party distribution Steven Heavey announced he would leave his role at the bank after more than six years.
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Mr Heavey, who will remain at the helm of St George’s third party distribution until the end of September, told The Adviser that he was looking for a “fresh challenge”.
Mr Heavey’s departure coincides with Westpac’s completion of its multi-brand strategy and management restructure, which will now see Melos Sulicich at the helm of the new operation.
As part of Westpac’s multi-brand strategy the intermediary distribution for St George, Bank SA, Bank of Melbourne as well as auto finance will now report into Melos Sulicich.
Along with RAMS, this now brings all of the lender’s intermediary businesses together.
But while Westpac’s various intermediary channels are will undergo a shift in command, Westpac’s general manager mortgage broker distribution Huw Bough said there would be no changes to Westpac’s third party channel.
Speaking to The Adviser, Mr Bough said the bank remained more committed than ever to the success of its brokers.
“I will remain in charge of third party at Westpac. Really, our new multi-brand strategy highlights just how important the third party channel is to Westpac. We understand that borrowers want to use brokers, and we want to support this in any way we can,” Mr Bough said.
“At Westpac, we want to provide customers with the same service, regardless if they go through the first or third party channel. Historically, the bank would often push customers towards using the first channel, however, this is no longer the case. We want to give customers the right to choose.”
