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Bankwest’s commitment to being a simple, easy bank for current and aspiring homeowners has delivered a policy change aimed at supporting brokers in delivering the best possible experience to self-employed customers.
Bankwest’s vision is to be a simple, easy bank for the Australian homeowner of today and tomorrow, which is a goal it strives to achieve with strong ties to its critical broker network.
Self-employed customers have not always been associated with simple and easy when it comes to aspiring homeowners, with inconsistent income among the barriers they face.
Overcoming those barriers often falls to brokers, who share Bankwest’s commitment to deliver the best possible experience to customers.
“So, the question for us became, ‘How can we better support brokers in delivering that experience to as many customers as possible?’,” Bankwest General Manager Third Party Ian Rakhit said.
“Sometimes, a simple perspective shift can produce solutions.”
That perspective shift led Bankwest to place a greater emphasis on assessing prospective self-employed homeowners themselves, helping to ease the income validation requirements.
“It’s critical we maintain our responsible lending standards, but within those obligations, there were changes that could be made to ease the burden on brokers and their self-employed customers,” Rakhit said.
Bankwest’s Salaried Self-Employed Policy simplified the documents required to evidence income for those self-employed customers who paid themselves a regular salary from their own company/trust for a minimum of six months, and with no reliance on additional income.
It was a policy shift that had the broker community celebrating.
Fabio de Castro, Director at Simplify Finance, said the result was a win-win for brokers and their customers, who were provided a far simpler and easier experience.
“Customers are delighted when presented with Bankwest’s solution, as it is considered a fair method to assess their income,” de Castro said.
“If a customer is paying themself a salary and their business is profitable, customers believe that is the correct way of assessing their application.”
De Castro said the policy also improved efficiencies for brokers when supporting salaried self-employed customers, which aligned with Bankwest’s focus on Time to Yes.
“The challenges faced by self-employed customers in gaining access to lending are often different from those faced by non-self-employed customers,” he said.
“Lenders generally view self-employed customers as higher-risk borrowers due to a perceived instability of self-employment, potential income volatility, and the complexity of assessing their financial situation.
“The unique circumstances and characteristics of self-employment make the lending process more complex and present additional hurdles for self-employed individuals.
“Bankwest’s policy cuts through hurdles, as they will consider using the income a self-employed applicant derives from their business.
“This can simplify the approval process, as often businesses will have complex structures and liabilities inside the entity, making the application assessment faster and more efficient.”
Bankwest is committed to being the best bank for brokers in the country, and it has acknowledged the only way to achieve that goal is by forming mutually respectful and collaborative relationships with its critical broker network, enabling it to better understand the needs and expectations of brokers so it can deliver the tools and services that support them.
“We make no secret of how important we consider brokers and the incredible support and guidance they provide customers,” Rakhit said.
“More than 80 per cent of Bankwest’s home loan customers originate through the broker network, which is why we’re committed to providing the same market-leading support and service to brokers that we strive to deliver to customers.
“That commitment can have us deploy digital innovations, such as our bespoke DocBox document upload tool in the Bankwest Broker Portal, or it can have us deliver policy changes such as the Salaried Self-Employed Policy, but it’s all with the same intent – to deliver simple and easy to brokers and their customers.”
More information on the Bankwest Salaried Self-Employed Policy can be found in the Bankwest Broker Portal.
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