ANZ retained third place in MPA's Brokers on Banks survey and Keiran Evans explains what their elite stream offers brokers
Banks on Brokers is all about finding out what the banks are going to do with your feedback from MPA's Brokers on Banks survey.
We’ve talked to this year’s top five banks, based on overall score: Westpac, CBA, ANZ, Suncorp and Macquarie and this year ANZ retains its third spot from last year.
People and process are making the difference at ANZ, according to head of third party relationship channels Keiran Evans, and judging by the results, many brokers agree.
MPA: ANZ was rated by respondents as the best bank for credit policy, by a large margin, with great results for turnaround times and BDM support. What makes your process stand out from the rest?
KEIRAN EVANS: We want all ANZ customers to receive first class service, and improving the broker experience is a crucial component of this. We are always looking at ways to enhance our end-to-end home loan process, while at the same time remaining true to our desire to be consistent in all aspects of our overall broker value proposition.
Our people will always be our difference and the core of this belief is that the broker to BDM relationship is paramount in helping brokers help customers. This is why we’ve again expanded our national relationship team this year. More brokers are receiving more focused support from their BDMs and together with customers are now enjoying even greater service from ANZ. This was verified via our recent ANZ broker survey where our BDM team received a noteworthy 8.7/10 for overall satisfaction. This score has been rising year on year and we believe can be accounted to the growing investment of quantity and quality of our team.
It is also the brokers’ understanding of our policy and process that is fundamental to our success. Our BDMs provide regular training updates and guidance to brokers in terms of our credit requirements, quality of application and documentation required. Most importantly, they assist in matching our products to the fact find ensuring customers receive the most appropriate finance outcome.
This on-going support is in addition to our new entrant training and on-boarding process which supports new brokers with a sound knowledge base setting our relationships up for success from the outset. Additionally, our Credit Assessment Team makes regular contact with brokers to talk through deals and bring our customer focus to life.
As well as this support from the end to end value chain, we place great importance on the continuous education of both BDMs and brokers, and acknowledge their relationship is crucial in helping satisfy customers.
Through the introduction of our Building Credit Knowledge webinars last year, we have amplified our approach to further improving industry professionalism and educating brokers on the credit aspects of applications. Topics included construction, sole traders and partnerships and self-employed residential finance applications.
The webinars are backed by MFAA and FBAA who have allocated 1 CPD point per session. For 2016, we have also supplemented the webinar program with face to face sessions of longer duration to delve further
into more complex scenarios and meet broker needs.
We also understand there is a lot more to customer experience than simply approving and settling a loan. The challenge for us is to keep working in partnership with brokers, to ensure the full end-to-end finance experience is a smooth and easy process for all involved. An example of this was our decision to move to six-day assessment, allowing customers to obtain pre-approval on a Saturday morning and head out for a day of auctions. This can make a big impact on customers and is an example of how we listen and respond to the marketplace.
MPA: Many brokers in this survey were members of banks’ elite streams; what does ANZ’s elite stream offer to brokers?
KE: We are relentless in providing our Premium Brokers with an exceptional experience and have demonstrated this recently by increasing the overall number of our brokers on this program.
Broadly, the program is about quick turnaround – this is what customers want and it’s what we aim to deliver.
However, we stress we remain fixated on enhancing the value proposition for all of our brokers, because at the end of the day we want all ANZ customers to receive a first class service.
This comes alive for all of our brokers in the form of some of the initiatives we’ve released in recent months including our Loan Change requests, streamlining our existing process in order to provide customers with faster decisions; our Online Document Submission, which allows our brokers to upload up to 50MB with ‘one click’. The system checks files for viruses, conducts redaction of tax file numbers, and also gives a higher image quality. Also our Automated Pricing Tool was released at the end of last year delivering faster decisions and remains a focus for us to continually build upon and improve.
At ANZ, our consistent level of service has always been something we are proud of and stand by. In saying this, we appreciate and value the support and feedback we receive from brokers and believe there is always more we can do together.
MPA: Brokers weren’t at all impressed by ANZ’s interest rates, giving them the worst rating of any bank in our survey. Do you believe your interest rates need to be more competitive?
KE: Interest rates are one of many factors that influence a customer’s decision to choose a particular lender. We believe our rates are competitive, however it’s important to also highlight that ANZ is known for its reliability and outstanding overall end to end home loan experience for both the customer and broker. We believe these features are key components for selecting ANZ as lender of choice, alongside our award winning Breakfree package.
MPA: 77% of respondents believed channel conflict is still a problem; what is ANZ doing, in terms of staff training and formal structures, to prevent this happening?
KE: We believe our customer-broker-branch relationship to be an absolute strength of our value proposition with all parties working together to meet and exceed customer needs.
We encourage all of our brokers to forge working relationships with their nearby branches and facilitate this through three-way meetings with our BDMs/broker and branch. This relationship, when developed well, benefits all parties with the branch ultimately augmenting the ANZ customer experience in tandem with the broker.
MPA: Two-thirds of brokers didn’t believe the banks dealt with APRA’s changes in a fair way for new and existing customers. Are there any lessons to be learnt in how you communicate interest and policy changes in the future?
KE: Change is always difficult, however we believe it provides opportunities for brokers to demonstrate their knowledge and expertise and help guide customers to the best outcome. At ANZ, our desire is to provide brokers with the information they require to continue providing the customer with a smooth end to end home loan experience. Our regular Broker News, Training Webinars and presentations at PD days along with one-on-one BDM sessions are all ways in which we provide this information.
We’ve talked to this year’s top five banks, based on overall score: Westpac, CBA, ANZ, Suncorp and Macquarie and this year ANZ retains its third spot from last year.
People and process are making the difference at ANZ, according to head of third party relationship channels Keiran Evans, and judging by the results, many brokers agree.
MPA: ANZ was rated by respondents as the best bank for credit policy, by a large margin, with great results for turnaround times and BDM support. What makes your process stand out from the rest?
KEIRAN EVANS: We want all ANZ customers to receive first class service, and improving the broker experience is a crucial component of this. We are always looking at ways to enhance our end-to-end home loan process, while at the same time remaining true to our desire to be consistent in all aspects of our overall broker value proposition.
Our people will always be our difference and the core of this belief is that the broker to BDM relationship is paramount in helping brokers help customers. This is why we’ve again expanded our national relationship team this year. More brokers are receiving more focused support from their BDMs and together with customers are now enjoying even greater service from ANZ. This was verified via our recent ANZ broker survey where our BDM team received a noteworthy 8.7/10 for overall satisfaction. This score has been rising year on year and we believe can be accounted to the growing investment of quantity and quality of our team.
It is also the brokers’ understanding of our policy and process that is fundamental to our success. Our BDMs provide regular training updates and guidance to brokers in terms of our credit requirements, quality of application and documentation required. Most importantly, they assist in matching our products to the fact find ensuring customers receive the most appropriate finance outcome.
This on-going support is in addition to our new entrant training and on-boarding process which supports new brokers with a sound knowledge base setting our relationships up for success from the outset. Additionally, our Credit Assessment Team makes regular contact with brokers to talk through deals and bring our customer focus to life. As well as this support from the end to end value chain, we place great importance on the continuous education of both BDMs and brokers, and acknowledge their relationship is crucial in helping satisfy customers.
Through the introduction of our Building Credit Knowledge webinars last year, we have amplified our approach to further improving industry professionalism and educating brokers on the credit aspects of applications. Topics included construction, sole traders and partnerships and self-employed residential finance applications.
The webinars are backed by MFAA and FBAA who have allocated 1 CPD point per session. For 2016, we have also supplemented the webinar program with face to face sessions of longer duration to delve further
into more complex scenarios and meet broker needs.We also understand there is a lot more to customer experience than simply approving and settling a loan. The challenge for us is to keep working in partnership with brokers, to ensure the full end-to-end finance experience is a smooth and easy process for all involved. An example of this was our decision to move to six-day assessment, allowing customers to obtain pre-approval on a Saturday morning and head out for a day of auctions. This can make a big impact on customers and is an example of how we listen and respond to the marketplace.
MPA: Many brokers in this survey were members of banks’ elite streams; what does ANZ’s elite stream offer to brokers?
KE: We are relentless in providing our Premium Brokers with an exceptional experience and have demonstrated this recently by increasing the overall number of our brokers on this program.
Broadly, the program is about quick turnaround – this is what customers want and it’s what we aim to deliver.
However, we stress we remain fixated on enhancing the value proposition for all of our brokers, because at the end of the day we want all ANZ customers to receive a first class service.
This comes alive for all of our brokers in the form of some of the initiatives we’ve released in recent months including our Loan Change requests, streamlining our existing process in order to provide customers with faster decisions; our Online Document Submission, which allows our brokers to upload up to 50MB with ‘one click’. The system checks files for viruses, conducts redaction of tax file numbers, and also gives a higher image quality. Also our Automated Pricing Tool was released at the end of last year delivering faster decisions and remains a focus for us to continually build upon and improve.
At ANZ, our consistent level of service has always been something we are proud of and stand by. In saying this, we appreciate and value the support and feedback we receive from brokers and believe there is always more we can do together.
MPA: Brokers weren’t at all impressed by ANZ’s interest rates, giving them the worst rating of any bank in our survey. Do you believe your interest rates need to be more competitive?KE: Interest rates are one of many factors that influence a customer’s decision to choose a particular lender. We believe our rates are competitive, however it’s important to also highlight that ANZ is known for its reliability and outstanding overall end to end home loan experience for both the customer and broker. We believe these features are key components for selecting ANZ as lender of choice, alongside our award winning Breakfree package.
MPA: 77% of respondents believed channel conflict is still a problem; what is ANZ doing, in terms of staff training and formal structures, to prevent this happening?
KE: We believe our customer-broker-branch relationship to be an absolute strength of our value proposition with all parties working together to meet and exceed customer needs.
We encourage all of our brokers to forge working relationships with their nearby branches and facilitate this through three-way meetings with our BDMs/broker and branch. This relationship, when developed well, benefits all parties with the branch ultimately augmenting the ANZ customer experience in tandem with the broker.
MPA: Two-thirds of brokers didn’t believe the banks dealt with APRA’s changes in a fair way for new and existing customers. Are there any lessons to be learnt in how you communicate interest and policy changes in the future?
KE: Change is always difficult, however we believe it provides opportunities for brokers to demonstrate their knowledge and expertise and help guide customers to the best outcome. At ANZ, our desire is to provide brokers with the information they require to continue providing the customer with a smooth end to end home loan experience. Our regular Broker News, Training Webinars and presentations at PD days along with one-on-one BDM sessions are all ways in which we provide this information.
