Australia's fifth largest lender has announced it is now able to allow brokers to submit variations to existing customer home loan details online, rather than manually by fax.
ING Direct's loan variation shake-up will see brokers gain access to an online loan variation option, as well as customer account details online. Supporting documentation can now be sent via email.
ING Direct has also committed to giving brokers milestone updates via email and SMS on their variations, to ensure both the broker and customer are up to date on the application's progress.
Executive director of delivery Lisa Claes said broker feedback showed that the manual nature of its existing processes left brokers dissatisfied and impacted their willingness to send new deals.
“We’ve now addressed what was the single, biggest sore point for brokers,” Claes said.
Head of broker distribution Mark Woolnough said the ability to email supporting documentation was a major aspect of the change. "Our previous requirement for faxed documents was a cause of dissatisfaction for brokers which will now be addressed," he said.
The system rollout was a major investment for the second tier lender, with ING Direct saying it was a result of recognition that third party distribution was a key driver for the institution's growth.
Claes said the upgrade also has positive flow-on effects for its Financial Adviser platform, though which the bank sells its savings products through financial planners.
“Keeping our third party channels satisfied with our back-end processes is key, because it’s a large part of their overall experience," she said.
Woolnough said the online overhaul provided the bank with an 'added edge' in the market. The upgrade to begin rolling out over coming weeks.
Related stories:
ING Direct attacks segmentation 'double jeapardy'
ING follows through on upgrades
ING Direct retunes broker relationship