Delegates from the industry association in Canada have visited Australia to discover the comparisons between the industries in the two countries and to open up greater communication.
Hosted by the Mortgage & Finance Association of Australia (MFAA), the team from Canada said while they were not experiencing anything like the Royal Commission, they were facing discussions around government regulation.
After arriving last Wednesday, they joined the MFAA for its roadshow and awards in Melbourne, before visiting Sydney to meet other industry bodies.
Discussing the visit, Paul Taylor, president and CEO of Mortgage Professionals Canada (MPC) said, “We wanted to make sure we have a better understanding of the regulation structure here. We have got roughly the same number of people, number of national banks, our broker channel is the same size, we have got regulatory pressure on both industries and we’ve got equivalent comparative markets.
“If we have a clearer vision on how things are operating here then in our own discussions with regulators back home we can be much more valuable with our input in those discussions. Hopefully we can help them avoid some of the landmines of poor policy decisions, because we can compare and contrast the different landscapes.”
Also visiting as part of the group was Mark Kerzner, president of The Mortgage Group and former chair of the MPC board.
He said, “We kept hearing how similar our markets were, so we wanted to validate that for ourselves. We believe where we can create dialogue opportunities for shared learning it can benefit both parties. If there’s an experience we’ve respectively gone through, we can share it. We’ve made some connections down here, we’re looking for creating reciprocal planning.”
Canada currently has around 35% of home loans being driven through the broker channel, compared to around 55% in Australia. However, the number of first home buyers coming through brokers is up to 55%. In Australia this share is only up to around 30%.
Kerzner, added, “Since the start of the global financial crisis, our market share has been increasing. The vast majority of mortgage terms in Canada are five years, which you renew. Fifty-five percent of broker customers are first home buyers. If they need to refinance or shop their renewal later down the road, we hope they’ll go back to their broker. As the channel matures and people have had a good broker experience, they'll refer their friends and family too.”
