Bendigo Bank opens up home loans to brokers

By: ameer@trustedteam.com

In a significant step forward for Bendigo Bank, brokers are now able to recommend Bendigo Bank branded home loans.

From today, Bendigo Bank Broker will gradually be rolled out to more than 3,000 brokers who use aggregator Finsure, before being rolled out to mortgage brokers nationwide in calendar year 2024.

Chief customer officer at Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, Richard Fennell (pictured above left) said with around 70% of Australian borrowers choosing a broker to obtain a home loan, the bank would be able to leverage its reputation as “Australia’s most trusted bank to better compete in the broker market, bringing in new customers and driving growth.

“This is a really important strategic initiative to allow us to leverage the Bendigo Bank brand through the broker channel and take advantage of the investments we continue to make into our brand and our reputation as Australia’s most trusted bank,” Fennell said.

“To become Australia’s bank of choice we need to continue to consolidate and simplify our current processes and reduce complexity to allow us to better serve our customers and meet their banking needs.”

Digital by design, human when it matters

Fennell said the new experience for brokers and customers is centred around a “digital by design, human when it matters” approach to the broker lending experience.

“We will start with Finsure to introduce our new lending platform with enhanced automation and digital capability that will see much faster and consistent credit decisioning, giving brokers a far richer experience,” Fennell said.

Fennel said Bendigo Broker customers would also get more choices with a new simple and flexible home loan offering and will have the opportunity to access the full range of value-adding Bendigo Bank products, services, and support, with seamless onboarding experience and improved e-banking facilities.

“Brokers will have all the support they need with a new dedicated website and will continue to have access to some of the best BDMs in the business, with Bendigo and Adelaide BDMs consistently ranked top three by brokers in Momentum Intelligence Third Party Lending report 2023,” Fennell said. 

Objectives align with aggregator partner Finsure

The partnership between Bendigo Bank and longstanding aggregator partner Finsure, means the aggregator’s brokers will be the first to have the opportunity to try the new product offering.

General manager of third-party banking Darren Kasehagen (pictured above centre) said Bendigo Bank will be working hard behind the scenes to make sure the broker and customer experience is a smooth one.

“Our dedicated processing team will closely monitor each loan application, to make sure processes and technology capability are meeting expectations resulting in a quicker time to decision for the customer,” Kasehagen said.

“By the middle of next year, we expect to be satisfied with the lending capability performance and will commence rollout to our remaining aggregators and their brokers Australia wide with completion anticipated during calendar year 2024.”

Finsure CEO Simon Bednar (pictured above rght) said the company was excited to be the first aggregator partner to be involved in Bendigo Bank’s new offering.

“Finsure has evolved into one of Australia’s largest mortgage broking groups and our business ethos is to provide the strongest value proposition to all our broker partners,” Bednar said. “This objective aligns perfectly with what Bendigo Bank is doing to consolidate and simplify their current process and reduce complexity for both brokers and their customers.”

“With our objectives aligned, together we can shape a better future for the industry and deliver results that benefit everyone.”

What do you think about Bendigo Bank Broker? Comment below.

Related post