Fired mortgage specialists not welcome in broker channel?

Debate has ensued about whether the broker channel should welcome laid off-bank employees, with some brokers believing those who failed to make the cut there will make second-rate agents here.

Debate has ensued about whether the broker channel should welcome laid-off bank employees, with some brokers believing those who failed to make the cut there will make second-rate agents here.

 “We all know (the banks) have hundreds of analysts and people who crunch numbers all the time and I’m pretty sure they would be part of the process in determining who to keep and who not to keep,” Independent Broker, Paolo Di Petta told MortgageBrokerNews.ca. “I’m pretty sure they would have kept all the good people and shuffled them around if they needed to into different positions.”

Of course, not everyone can be painted with the same brush. It’s all a matter of evaluating each potential hire on an individual basis.

“I’m sure a few really good agents snuck out, maybe they didn’t like the deal they were getting,” Di Petta said. “So there might be a few out there it really just depends on how much diligence a broker wants to do when looking at a person they are hiring.”

The Bank of Montreal cut 1,000 jobs in the personal and commercial banking sectors, which includes its mortgage specialists. The news has sparked debate among brokers, who are divided on whether the broker channel should welcome laid off bank employees to join its ranks.

One industry player would welcome the former bankers… as long as he feels they are up to the task.

“If they’re professionals, yeah. The question is always: Are you self-disciplined enough to manage your time and to approach people, that’s always the hardest thing,” Layth Matthews of RateMiser Mortgages told MortgageBrokerNews.ca. “I think that people who work for institutions often want to make a go of self-employment and the transition from being a mortgage specialist to being a mortgage broker is probably one of the easier jumps because you’re pretty much doing the same thing.

“It’s just that you’re now having more lenders to work with, more competitive rates, more flexible terms.”

And Matthews believes the transition would be an advantageous one for former bank specialists, at least as far as compensation is concerned.

“I’m sure that the bank specialists are used to getting a fraction of the participation that we get in the mortgage business,” Matthews said. “There’s a big difference between one per cent and whatever they get.”