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Jessica Darnbrough
Australia’s second tier lenders will not win a price war with the majors, one industry stakeholder has claimed.
Speaking to The Adviser, Citibank’s NSW’s state manager – mortgages, Matt Wood, said for second tier lenders to stand out and compete head on with the majors, they need to deliver more than a competitively priced product suite.
“The second tiers really need to differentiate themselves from the majors, and pricing is hard to use as the sole lever. At Citibank, we are trying to take a more holistic approach to our broker proposition and offering unparralled service is key to that,” Mr Wood said.
“Good service, coupled with good policy and policy niches will help us to differentiate ourselves in this market and be as competitive as possible in the current lending environment.”
According to Mr Wood, the bank is always reviewing its service proposition to see where it can improve.
He said the lender would look to roll out a few more unique service initiatives over the coming months, while remaining competitive on price.
“While we can’t compete on price alone, it does help to have a very sharply priced product suite,” he said.
“Which is why earlier this week we decided to cut the interest on our three and five year fixed rate products.”
From today onwards, Citibank will offer a three year fixed rate of just 6.99 per cent and a five year fixed rate of 7.44 per cent.
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