HSBC has announced a return to the Australian mortgage broking space after a 10-year hiatus through a partnership with
Aussie Home Loans, something
Aussie CEO James Symond sees as a "vote of confidence" for his company and the industry as a whole.
"Having the quality of an organisation like HSBC want to jump into the industry is a real sign of confidence of where mortgage broking is going," he said.
"Considering the ASIC report, Sedgwick Report, bank levies; considering all the complications that the mortgage broking market always gets, it is such a good thing for the industry. HSBC is such a prestigious, prominent, global player and for them to be jumping into the mortgage broking marketplace is not to be underestimated in terms of the confidence they have in the industry."
The move marks HSBC’s bid to “reach out and resonate” with more customers - including non-residents - following strong growth over the last few years, Alice Del Vecchio, HSBC Australia's head of mortgages and third party distribution, said Wednesday (17 May).
"We know that we have really strong, compelling products; we’ve seen our above-system growth over the last few years and we really want to reach out and resonate with more consumers and Aussie’s in the perfect place to do that. We definitely think the timing’s right for us," she said.
The bank will rollout accreditation and online training throughout the month of June. “During that month we expect brokers to start talking about our products in front of consumers,” she said.
The plan is to have a very clear accreditation module, but bank staff will be meeting face-to-face with as many Aussie brokers as they can to talk to brokers about the value-add-ons. Del Vecchio said the bank has a large credit team and a large broker care team based out of its Parramatta office, and a support team based at the head office in Barangaroo. State staff are also assisting with the broker rollout, she added.
The loans will be exclusively available through Aussie-branded brokers at first, but it could be rolled out to others in the future. Del Veccio said HSBC has been in discussion with other groups. “We will have a limited number that we will probably partner with, but … we want to do this properly and are running this as a parallel panel. We’re not in a hurry, we just want to do it right.”
Del Vecchio said HSBC chose to partner with Aussie because it is an "iconic brand" that's well-regarded in the industry. "Aussie has such a lovely distribution network with their retail stores and their mobile sales force. We really value the fact that they have strong compliance and training, and as a global bank that is extremely compliant and values that sort of thing, they're the perfect partner for us."
While HSBC is known for accommodating affluent customers and complex lending needs, she said the products will resonate with any consumer who wants good value outside the big four.
“At the moment we absolutely lend to non-residents, but we lend to non-residents that we know who are part of our global premier package. HSBC will continue to do that and Aussie brokers will be eligible, but for customers that we know, they need to be global premier clients," she said.
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