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ISSUE 6.12 June 2009
A different The perfect look at sales pitch the GFC
Approvals: analysing the numbers
page 23 page 26
page 24
■ 4: Lawyers unnecessary for ACLs ■ 10: Broker salaries ■ 14: ACCC on bank mergers
Cummings: Focus on education The current impasse over bank service levels to brokers turned an otherwise sedate broker discussion at the MFAA annual conference into a lively debate. Just as the broker panel (made up of PLAN’s Ray Hair, Smartline’s Joe Sirianni, FAST’s Steve Kane and former Mortgage Choice CEO Paul Lahiff) began to probe the matter of broker education, the CBA’s Kathy Cummings was handed the question microphone circulating around the room. She told the panel (and the 150 or so brokers in the room) she was pleased it had brought up the matter of education, because while it had been critical of lenders’ service levels – which it had been – the panel should also be aware that much of the problem was caused through the brokers’ lack of quality in submitting applications. She said that over 90% of applications sent to banks were incomplete and required rework. “So my question to you gentlemen is: what are you doing for these people [your brokers]
Kathy Cummings
in reinvesting in your model to put the appropriate investment into education. None of you tried to educate your people on how to fix the problem. So while it is all very well to fire the bullets – what are you doing in reinvesting in your members to educate them to make sure their applications are complete?” Cummings’s remarks caused a predictable stir around the auditorium, with aggregators responding that it was a two-way issue on service, with one calling for “reciprocal quality from banks”. But it was the cool hand of Smartline’s Joe Sirianni that brought matters back to order when he made the observation that both aggregator in the audience and Cummings had raised valid points. “It is incumbent on all aggregator groups to continue to provide training internally to their people,” he confirmed. In terms of the broader market, Sirianni said that there was no doubt that the role of the MFAA was to provide a platform for further education. Page 28
Voluntary administration: Pisces hoped to ‘fly under radar’ Key points
• Pisces Group placed in voluntary administration • company hoped the decision would go unreported • report in The Australian forced explanation of circumstances • subsidiary mortgage division unaffected and operating normally • restructuring of parent holding company to take about five weeks
The decision to place the Pisces Group in voluntary administration on the 29 May and hope that news of this did not leak out nearly resulted in PR disaster for the service provider. “We were hoping the story would fly under the radar,” Pisces Communications business manager Vincent Turner told Australian Broker after the ‘crash’ was reported in The Australian. The newspaper’s primary focus was on the fact that Pisces is chaired by former Liberal Party leader John Hewson. However, news of the company being placed in the caretakership of insolvency specialist Robert Moodie raised questions about how this affected the elodgement services and broker tools used by thousands of brokers.
Turner said his phone had hardly stopped ringing since the voluntary administration was made public. He says he was the first to reassure brokers that the decision to place the Pisces Group into administration would have no impact on the mortgage services side of the business. “The mortgage services business remains healthy and unaffected by moves by management and the board,” said Turner, who also confirmed that Hewson and CEO Jega Rajan remained in their roles. Further up the coast, Pisces was also hard at work getting the message across to brokers attending the MFAA Gold Coast annual conference. Page 28