Jessica Darnbrough
St George will look to streamline its processes and enhance its products in a bid to grow its third party volumes by 10 per cent over the coming years.
Speaking to The Adviser, the bank’s chief executive officer Rob Chapman said while St George tightened lending 12 months ago, the bank was now ready to boost its loan book and market share.
“We pulled back from the market, but now we are in great shape and we are ready for business.”
In addition to the launch of the Bank of Melbourne in Victoria, Mr Chapman said that the bank is eyeing growth in New South Wales and in Queensland – and much of this will be driven by brokers.
"The third party distribution channel is really important to us. The broker channel accounts for just under 40 per cent of our business to date, and we want to grow that by another 10 per cent,” he said.
“To do this, we know we need to have a valuable proposition that both brokers and consumers want.”
Mr Chapman said the bank wouldn’t just look to improve one area, but rather look to improve every area of their proposition including product, policy, process and price.
"There will be some product development for the broker channel – and there is the prospect of a new product that we're looking to bring to market.
And the bank will also look to streamline back office processes through sharing resources with parent group Westpac.
“There is no point just focusing on price or policy. We know to be competitive we have to have a competitive suite of products, fast turnaround times and excellent broker support,” he said.