Staff Reporter
Australia’s lenders have reaffirmed their commitment to brokers, following a misleading report suggesting that Westpac was withdrawing from the third party distribution channel.
Yesterday, ING DIRECT’s executive director distribution Lisa Claes contacted The Adviser to reiterate the fact that the bank remained 100 per cent committed to its most important channel.
“Given the nature of our [branchless] business we have always seen real value in originating loans via the broker channel. We stay abreast of changes in the market and receive customer feedback through brokers. They play an important role in how we shape our products and policies,” Ms Claes said.
“As we’ve done this year with changes to Reduced Equity Fee, Orange Advantage and increased LVR settings, we have plans to continue rolling out new initiatives to encourage more customers to choose ING DIRECT.”
Ms Claes' comments come after Banking Day falsely reported Westpac had decided to “call it quits” with the broking channel.
Westpac rubbished the claims, with the lender’s general manager mortgage broker distribution, Huw Bough, stating Westpac remains 100 per cent committed to brokers.
