Bankwest announces major transformation, focus on brokers

Currently, around 90 per cent of Bankwest’s home loans are originated through the broker channel and 97 per cent of transactions by Bankwest customers are serviced digitally, with fewer than 2 per cent of its customers visiting a branch regularly.

Given this, the lender is now becoming fully digital and broker-oriented.

As such, it will be closing its remaining 45 Bankwest branches in Western Australia, with the conversion of 15 regional branches to CBA expected by the end of the year.

It said that the move will enable it to “boost investment in its critical broker network and to deliver enhanced products and services to more customers nationwide”.

Reinvestment of resources to broker channel

Ian Rakhit, Bankwest’s general manager, third party, said: “Bankwest has established a strong relationship with brokers that is founded on mutual respect and genuine collaboration in delivering the best possible experience for current and aspiring Australian home owners.

“Brokers are so important to Bankwest and the decision to pivot the business to free up increased investment to enhance its broker offering is a reflection of that importance.

“We’ve been consistently working with brokers to understand their needs and pain points and deliver the tools, services and policy improvements that make their lives as simple and easy as possible, and I look forward to enhancing that offering.

“We know that brokers are increasingly wanting to know what the bank can offer in terms of price, or policy, or service – and have that information at their fingertips. They don’t want to sit in queues waiting for calls to be answered. They want to be in charge of the information.

“That’s what we’ve done in the past and what we’ll continue to do.”

As an example, Rakhit flagged that when Bankwest had closed east coast branches (in 2018), the money saved had been reinvested into the lender’s broker portal and when the remainder of the east coast branches closed in 2022, the bank released some of that investment into its document lodgement system, DocBox.

He told The Adviser: “I was around when we closed a lot of our branches in 2018, and the money there was invested to deliver our broker portal that continues to earn rave reviews because of the ease in which brokers can access information on their customers,” adding Bankwest was one of only a few lenders that allow brokers to not only see their existing customer details, but also to reprice them.

“In 2022, the money from more branch closures was invested into DocBox, which allows brokers to place customer documents directly onto the file for an assessor or credit manager to action immediately.

“Like we saw then, what we’ll see now is a redirection of investment into broker tools and broker services.”

AI and turnarounds first priorities

When asked what tools and tech Bankwest would prioritise for brokers, Rakhit said that he would like to “put more investment into things like credit deal desks, where we make deal desks available to brokers by having more and more credit managers for those out-of-the-box scenarios”.

“Naturally we’ll be creating more jobs in technology and we’ll be creating more jobs in operations. And we’re going to continue to invest in our broker portal and design solutions that brokers are looking for,” Rakhit said.

This reportedly includes an upcoming pilot to use artificial intelligence (AI) so that a broker can find exactly the section of credit policy they are looking for.

According to the general manager, third party, Bankwest will also look to continue to improve its turnaround times – aiming to bring them down from three days to one day.

“We see through the Broker Pulse surveys that we’re doing well on time to approval, but I think we can do better. We can reach the top of the ‘charts’ and ensure that when a broker needs the same day approval, we can deliver a same day approval,” he said.

“That is really built upon using data points (as opposed to documents) in the approval process. So you’ll see a lot of that investment in Bankwest being able to give brokers and customers that really really quick turnaround.”

He said that Bankwest would be “working with broker partners about what the future looks like”.

“We’ve been advised we need to grow and we want to grow. We have big growth ambitions,” Rakhit concluded.

Support for Bankwest customers who still use branches

Speaking of the move to become a digital bank, Bankwest executive general manager Jason Chan said the move would be “challenging” for some customers.

“I understand this will be difficult news for some of our customers and Bankwest is introducing a range of measures to help our customers who use branches regularly through this transition,” Chan said.

This includes using Bank@Post services and customers will also be able to use CBA cash machines without being charged fees.

“Our branch colleagues have invaluable knowledge and experience, and they will all be offered opportunities to access the next generation of banking jobs so they can continue to support customers nationwide from in their own communities,” he said.

“We’ve continued to evolve as a bank for almost 130 years, ensuring Bankwest has remained a sustainable, growing and successful WA-based business, and a major WA employer, in a highly competitive national banking sector.

“It’s critical we prioritise investment for the majority of our customers who expect leading digital and broker banking services, and rarely use branches, but we have a clear focus on the needs of our regular branch users at this time.

“[C]ustomers will have a clear and distinct choice between CBA’s personal and business banking offering and national branch network, and Bankwest’s simple and easy digital and broker offering, focused on home owners’ needs.

“Bankwest is here to stay and our transition to a digital bank is unlocking significant investment from the CBA Group to create a world-class Bankwest offering and support our growth nationwide, powered by WA colleagues passionate about customers.”

[Related: CBA broker usage dropped in January: Broker Pulse