The best non-bank lenders in Australia’s third-party channel have been recognised in The Adviser’s Non-Bank Lending Awards 2015.
Pepper took overall honours, claiming 7 of the 13 gongs on offer. The group won awards for the following categories: Best Customer Service, Best Broker Service, Most Innovative Products, Best BDM Support, Best Investor Lender, Best Self-Employed Lender, and Best Equipment and Leasing Finance Lender.
Liberty Financial was the only other lender to receive multiple awards, winning the Best SMSF Lender, Best Commercial Lender and Best Turnaround Times categories.
Homeloans was named Best First Home Buyer Lender for the second year in a row, while Scottish Pacific and Assetline also repeated their success of last year by being named Best Cash Flow Lender and Best Short-Term Lender respectively.
The winners were chosen based on a survey of almost 600 brokers, which was partnered by Advantedge Financial Services.
Advantedge’s general manager of distribution, Brett Halliwell, said non-banks play an essential role in the broker proposition by allowing them to offer a wider array of specialist product options that go beyond the big four.
“With third-party lending expected to continue to occupy an important place in the marketplace over the next few years, brokers are increasingly looking towards the sector to provide them with an edge over their competitors,” he said.
With speculation surrounding the Reserve Bank’s decision to further lower the cash rate, Pepper’s director of sales and distribution, Mario Rehayem, said another rate cut would do little to affect the group’s success.
“As Pepper is a solutions-based business, interest rate changes don’t have as big an impact on us as other businesses,” he said.
“At the same time, we expect our brokers will feel more confident and will be more willing to offer a specialist loan solution to their clients if rates are lowered, as lower interest rates are more palatable for our customers.”
Liberty Financial’s national sales manager, John Mohnacheff, said Liberty will always look at any future rate cuts “and how this can assist us in being one of the most competitive and truly independent lenders left in the market”.
[Related: Non-bank lenders ‘keep the banks honest’]