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Jessica Darnbrough
Broker salaries have to increase be it through higher commissions or fee for service, one industry stakeholder has claimed.
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Speaking to The Adviser, Oxygen’s James Green said broker salaries need to rise in-line with other professional industries and a fee for service model would help that happen.
“I like fee for service, I like the idea of it and I think it is important for brokers to be paid more. Ultimately I would like to see commissions increase and I think we will start to see this down the track as Australia’s non-major lenders and non-banks try to compete more aggressively with the majors,” he said.
“In the meantime, I think fee for service is a good approach for brokers. That said, I don’t think any broker has got the right model for it yet. We need to sit down as an industry and work out a way to implement this model so that it benefits both the broker and the borrower."
Mr Green’s comments have been echoed across the industry by brokers and brokerage heads, including Money Link’s director Gary Ross.
Mr Ross agreed with Mr Green and said if brokers are to “successfully” charge a client fee, they need to know what they are charging for.
“If you are merely helping a client transact a loan, you shouldn’t charge a fee,” Mr Ross said.
“If you are going above and beyond the humble home loan transaction and providing your clients with advice, debt management and structure, then you can charge a fee.
“We give our clients advice and help them to feel comfortable in their financial transactions. We were initially nervous about implementing a client fee, but once we started articulating to our clients exactly what value-add we provide them with, we found everyone was more than happy to pay the fee.”
