“We are well beyond where we thought (the numbers) would be,” says Mel Cadman, who is heading up the bank's push into third party distribution.
However, the bank isn’t disclosing the number of applications it has received or settled. “We will keep that to BNZ,” she says.
So far about 82 of the 100 mortgage advisers accredited to use BNZ through the NZ Financial Services Group have lodged deals.
Cadman wouldn’t disclose what volume of business the bank is getting but said “we’ve grown faster than we anticipated.”
The bank is working to a 48-hour service level. Currently it has a team of 16 people working on broker distribution including underwriting.
BNZ is currently recruiting for a head of third party distribution.
Cadman said it was a deliberate strategy not to appoint someone before BNZ went to market five weeks ago.
“It was a deliberate strategy not to recruit until we had gone to market,” she said. “All markets talk and we wanted to keep as much to ourselves as we could.”
She says whoever is appointed my not come with broker market experience.
“Sales execution is huge for me.”
She says “there is some other thinking (around the role) but I don’t want to comment as it’s a little bit about our strategy.”
Currently there are 90 advisers in Auckland and 10 in Christchurch who can use BNZ.
The roll out plan is to add another 40 advisers in September; again these people will mainly be in the Christchurch and Auckland markets.
This fits with the bank's strategy of growing in the retail market in Auckland. Currently the bank has a significantly underweight position in the county's biggest and fast-growing region. Auckland accounts for 355 of New Zealand's GDP, but BNZ rtail main bank market share in the region is only 9%. It is addressing this problem by using mortgage advisers and mobile managers.
BNZ expects it will start thinking about opening up to other groups in six months time, but it doesn’t have a date for when it would offer its products to other adviser.
“There’s not in my mind a date for that,” Cadman says. But “within the next six months (we would start) investigating what we might do.”
Cadman says BNZ is committed to its partnership with NZFSG and that is her first priority.
She said BNZ was focused on “treasuring it’s relationship (with NZFSG)” and “delivering”.
Cadman says BNZ’s re-entry to the adviser channel is “definitely not a pilot.”
“We are absolutely really committed to it.”
Brokers are a real growth channel, she says, and BNZ wants to be part of it.
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