White labelling a conflict of interest

Speaking to The Adviser, Vow’s chief executive officer Tim Brown said he had concerns about aggregators taking a cut of the commission on every product except their own.

“If you are not treating every lender the same way, there is a conflict of interest,” he said.

“If you are not taking a cut on your own products, but you are on everyone elses’, then you aren’t establishing a level playing field. It is important that all lenders are given the same opportunity to sell products.”

White labelled products are accounting for a growing share of volumes across the industry. AFG, PLAN, FAST and Choice are amongst the groups that are actively promoting their own branded products and with significant success.

But not every group added their own branded products to their panel and Vow is one aggregator that has decided not to break into white labeling.

According to Mr Brown, he sees no value in pushing products that are “exactly like everything else”.

“We don’t just want to offer a product that is the same as something else on the market. Some of the white labelled products out there are just re-badged versions of something else. We do not and will not do this.

“Unless we can offer something different, something unique, we are not prepared to launch into this space.”