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The success of Citi in 2014 is directly attributable to the partnership we have with our brokers
IN 2014, we committed to continue to implement initiatives based on brokers’ feedback that embed our strategic focus around education, servicing, product and policy.
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All of them with the objective to improve the overall customer experience by delivering outstanding service, improved turnaround times and responsibly lending to consumers.
We have remained focused on quality growth and our objective is having relevant policies that ensure we are meeting the needs of our customers.
We spent much of last year gathering feedback through forums, surveys, telephone conferences, visiting brokers and asking what they want to see from us, and we have been acting on that feedback.
We take great pride in actively using feedback from our broker partners to improve our proposition and these results reflect these efforts.
The implementation of upfront valuations is an example of this.
While Citi economists are forecasting the Reserve Bank will keep official cash rates on hold for some time to come, we will continue to look to provide value to brokers and clients through competitive pricing, quality service and flexibility of choice.
Our pricing has been very competitive in the past two years – particularly so in the fixed space – enabling clients to take advantage of the current record-low rates.
We are also focused on continuing to improve our servicing model with enhanced access to credit officers for brokers to leverage the improved service experience of our ownership model implemented in 2013.
I implore brokers to keep the feedback coming on this.
Attracting new brokers is an important issue for the industry. This is a growing sector and we need all parts of the industry to work together, pooling their resources and expertise, to attract good talent to support that growth.
Citi chooses to act, not just to comment on the issue. As well as personally mentoring a number of new entrants, Citi is the platinum sponsor of four of the top mentor groups in Australia and I and our executive team regularly speak on behalf of the industry on the topic.
We source over 75 per cent of our mortgage business from brokers so it is imperative we get it right in this area.
Consistency is key, and we focus daily on delivering the basics through an offering created by brokers for brokers.
True partnership is built by seeking feedback and acting upon it and we are determined to continue to do just that in 2015.
Aaron Milburn is head of broker distribution at Citi Australia
