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As mutual banks continue to grow their market share, they’re now upgrading their systems and offerings for the broker channel. We find out what they’re focusing on at the moment.
Speaking to The Adviser for its Mutual Bank Roundtable luncheon in September, several leaders from the customer-owned banking segment revealed their plans for the year ahead.
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Technology enhancements
Like several of the non-major lenders, technology transformation has been top of mind for many of the mutual banks.
Matt Wood, the national manager – broker at Bank Australia, said: “Technology is a big focus for us this year. We’ve now soft-launched a new lending origination platform (and a full launch is currently in rolling out) ... which will be a big change for us.
“It’s been two years in the making and it isn’t off the shelf; we built it ourselves with Cloudcase.”
The new platform aims to provide brokers and customers with a more streamlined online experience, enhancing efficiency in loan applications.
Likewise, People First Bank said it was gearing its efforts by working closely with partners like Salesforce to “simplify the entire lending journey, from applications to the complete life cycle of loans”.
Michael Sancilio, head of connected channels and partnerships at People First Bank said: “By focusing on simplicity and creating one seamless way of doing things, we’re ensuring both brokers and customers benefit from a unified, streamlined experience.
“Our aim is to set a new standard for customer experience and drive consistency across all touchpoints – including brokers.”
New lending segments
Expanding existing lending segments and breaking into new areas are also on the cards for the mutual banks.
Investor lending – which has been booming in the past year – is a particular attraction.
Darren McLeod, head of third party at Beyond Bank, said: “We have a current focus on the investment lending space where we think there is some good opportunity there. We’re looking at how we can improve our servicing capability with negative gearing, for example.”
Teachers Mutual Bank also identified investor lending as a core priority, as was first home buyer activity.
Mark Middleton, head of third-party distribution, said: “We’ve been flat out from some of the growth that we’ve seen and needed to manage, especially in the first home buyer space. Pleasingly, we’ve managed this and we’re back in there again with a home buying scheme. There’s also more opportunity for us in refinancing and investment.”
Great Southern Bank will also be building its investor proposition and is looking for new ways of supporting first home buyers (a key point of focus for the government at the moment).
Mat Patterson, head of branches and broker, said: “We’re looking at the other pathways to opening that door to first home ownership, whether it be through our partnership with Helia or how we help inform customers about some of the other pathways.”
He said that “first-time buyers are going to be crucial” for the bank going forward and revealed that the lender would also be launching new green home loan this financial year.
Gateway Bank is also focusing on new lending segments, with plans to re-enter the higher loan-to-value ratio (LVR) market by the end of the year, responding to easing market conditions.
Zeb Drummond, its chief operating officer, told The Adviser: “There’s been a lot of competition in the lower LVR space, but by the end of this year, we’ll be back in the higher LVR space. We think the time is right to be back in that space. Some of the concerns that were had earlier in the year have settled a little bit now and it’s time to start helping people with lower deposits and higher barriers to entry into market get over the line.
“We are also tweaking our processes and our policies in response to broker feedback so we can provide better service and help with niche opportunities.”
Find out more about what the mutual banks are focusing on this year in the October edition of The Adviser, out now!
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