How the banking giant is meeting the ever-rising demands of today's brokers and borrowers
Two years into his role as executive broker distribution at NAB, Adam Brown’s enthusiasm for the third party channel, and NAB’s position within the broking industry, is as strong as ever.
Sitting down with MPA to discuss what’s happening at the banking giant, Brown comes armed with the facts, figures and fervency of NAB’s commitment to brokers and the customers they’re ultimately there to serve.
NAB has an ace up its sleeve in an increasingly competitive mortgage market where 77.6% of all deals are settled by brokers. As the largest business bank in Australia, it is naturally inclined to understand the needs of Australian brokers, the majority of whom are small business owners in their own rights.
This feeds into a holistic attitude to servicing the broker channel, from being at the forefront of scam and fraud detection to supporting cash flow management, advising on how to raise debt and expand your broking business, and beyond.
“As the number one business bank in the country, we’re well equipped to help support small business owners every day,” Brown tells MPA. “As a major bank, we have a whole range of specialised functions, knowledge centres and capabilities that exist across our broader bank that we want to bring to brokers.”
“It’s not always what’s most important to us as a bank, or most important to a broker, but what’s most important to a customer”
NAB’s partnership with brokers doesn’t simply finish once a loan application is lodged.
“We want to care for customers as well as, if not better, than brokers want to care for their customers,” he says. “Our ambition is to be Australia and New Zealand’s most customer-centric company. What that means is getting it right for customers, getting it right for our partners. The broker channel is really key to that.”
A large percentage of broker-introduced NAB customers are coming to the bank for the first time, Brown notes. “The way we partner with our brokers in bringing that customer on board – and then how we serve that customer once they’re on board – is critical to our strategy.”
For Brown, the trick to striking the right balance between meeting the needs of brokers and delivering for customers lies in continuously seeking and acting on feedback, whether through NPS surveys or direct conversations with customers and brokers.
“It’s not always what’s most important to us as a bank, or most important to a broker, but what’s most important to a customer,” says Brown. “And so, whilst we want to make things better for a broker and easier to work with us, we’ve got an absolutely fierce determination to get it right for customers as well.”
Like any distribution head worth their salt, Brown is always out and about, hearing from the brokers on the ground. What he’s learned on his travels is that while NAB aims to be customer obsessed, “there’s no question that customer obsession is at the heart of what brokers are about as well”.
“The best brokers have the strongest relationships with customers,” Brown says. “That’s where our absolute ambition intersects.”
While brokers absolutely need top-drawer policies and pricing processes in order to best serve their clients, “what they really want is the assistance when they need it”.
This rarely if ever means having a one-size-fits-all approach. For instance, whereas some brokers want face-to-face contact with a BDM, others are happy to just have a number to call when they need it.
“We have to adapt to these different needs,” says Brown. “Because what’s most valuable to one broker is very, very different to another.”
First home buyers bounce back
So, what’s hot on the market right now? For Brown, all signs point to a revitalisation of the first home buyer market.
“A lot of buyers sat out of the market last year,” he says. “There were higher interest rates, and people were probably a little bit tentative.” Yet with rates coming down, “Customers are becoming more educated around home lending and more demanding of what they want out of a home loan.”
Auction bids are at their highest levels in 18 months, and listings are improving, Brown says.
NAB’s latest quarterly Australian Residential Property Survey shows that in the June quarter, FHBs’ market share of new housing increased to 40%, marking the highest level since 2022. Victoria is leading the way in terms of momentum after a prolonged drought period, followed by NSW.
And it’s not just in the capitals – momentum is building in the regional areas across Queensland, Victoria and WA.
Brown chalks the regional surge up to post-COVID life decisions. “Some of it’s weather, some of it’s lifestyle. Some of it’s been brought about because of flexible working environments and hybrid ways of working.”
Affordability is of course a major factor in the regional shift too.
First home buyers are also proving an enterprising bunch, using strategies like rentvesting and multigenerational ownership models to get onto the property ladder.
However, while NAB has modified some of its policies to help more customers through these strategies, Brown concedes it’s critical to address both demand and supply-side measures together to help more Australians buy a home.
While increasing borrowing capacity helps, housing supply remains the most significant challenge. This issue will require time, commitment and smart policy, particularly to ensure new housing is built in the locations where people want to live.
NAB is playing its part in this by financing social, affordable and community housing on a large scale. The bank has a target to lend at least $6 billion by 2029 to help more Australians access affordable and specialist housing and has provided $4.4 billion to support this ambition since 1 October 2022.
Delivering beyond the deal
One thing brokers and their homebuying clients of all stripes are demanding right now is flexibility.
Indeed, “customers are becoming more educated around home lending and more demanding of what they want out of a home loan”, says Brown.
So, how is NAB’s broker channel meeting these demands?
Brown points to product offerings such as multiple offset accounts that allow customers to bucket their funds while saving on interest.
But these are just surface-level bonuses that most of NAB’s competitors can offer. True flexibility emerges when brokers make good use of the support network NAB makes available.
In Brown’s view, the expertise of NAB’s business development managers and distribution teams stretches far beyond just the loan transaction.
“A key thing that I share with brokers is that yes, we can help you with the transaction to help your customer, but we can help you with a lot more than that,” he says.
“I’m really proud of our distribution team and how we support our brokers,” adds Brown. “And part of that support is listening to feedback. We will continue to listen to feedback. We’ll continue to take action on it, and we’ll continue to deliver the things that matter for brokers and customers.”
