P&N Group is expanding its national footprint through its bank brands, P&N Bank in Western Australia and BCU Bank in New South Wales and south-east Queensland, with an enhanced broker offering that is delivering significant growth for the organisation.
After 13 years successfully partnering with AFG through P&N Bank in WA, BCU Bank recently extended this partnership to build on its existing broker footprint and grow its east coast presence as part of a long-term strategy. P&N Bank has also joined forces with Mortgage Choice, entering a new aggregator partnership that will offer even more brokers and their clients a genuine banking alternative to the major banks.
P&N Group General Manager Broker, Kaine Adamson, said investment in the thirdparty channel continued to be a priority for P&N and BCU, given broker market share exceeded 70%.
“The Group has experienced significant growth in broker loan volumes and market share following these new partnerships. Overall, we have grown the value of P&N and BCU broker loans on our portfolio by just over 20% this financial year through our expanding network of over 2,000 accredited brokers,” Adamson said.
With a long-term vision to create a seamless digital experience for brokers, the Group is transforming to provide brokers with a faster and more consistent experience that retains the all-important personal connection.
Changing to meet broker needs
By listening to and understanding their needs, P&N Group are changing the way brokers empower Australian borrowers. Last year, the Group conducted over 400 customer and broker surveys along with 40 deep dive interviews with brokers to understand what really matters to them.
“We knew it was important to hear what brokers had to say about the moments that matter to them and their expectations from us as a bank. It’s one thing to invest in your business, it’s another thing to ask your customers where you need to invest so that we can improve the experience for them,” Adamson added.
“We take our brokers' feedback seriously and believe that investing in their suggestions is key to improving their experience with us. We want to make sure that the next phase of the process is easy and hassle-free for them.
“That's why we've launched new web chat functionality to help P&N and BCU brokers connect with our team in real-time, get immediate support and assistance, and receive accurate and fast feedback on applications in progress.
“We have also implemented a new case management process that has vastly improved turn-around times and broker satisfaction. Now, brokers can speak directly with a dedicated assessor that will manage their application from submission all the way through to approval.
“Pleasingly this has resulted in a reduction in the number of times an application is being handled, improving our broker satisfaction results.
“We’ve also launched CoreLogic Property Hub to our brokers that means they can order their own valuations, removing an additional touch point for faster turnaround times.”
P&N Group will soon introduce a series of CPD accredited virtual training sessions to provide additional support and guidance to brokers on its processes, policies, and products.
“It’s all part of our mission to deliver a better broker experience and pave the way for a more streamlined mortgage process that makes life easier for our brokers and their clients,” Adamson said.
Customers at the heart
As a customer-owned banking group, P&N Group is dedicated to providing its customers with consistent, long-term value throughout the life of their loan. And this means offering the same competitively priced interest rates to both new and existing customers.
“By listening to our brokers, we discovered they were spending a lot of time repricing when clients were coming off maturing fixed-rate loans.
“Traditionally, fixed rate loans roll onto standard variable rate products which can have an interest rate anywhere between 2% and 4% higher than acquisition rates. This causes repayment shock for customers and requires a lot of effort from brokers to negotiate better rates with their existing lender.
“We knew we had to find a better way that we could deliver better long-term value to our customers, while also minimising the administrative burden for our brokers. That’s why we made the decision to roll all new and existing P&N and BCU fixed rate customers onto one of our competitively priced acquisition products, which is a win-win situation that has been well received.”
For more information please visit pnbank.com.au or bcu.com.au.