CBA- New accreditation policy not unrealistic
Wednesday, 29 July 2009
The Commonwealth Bank has backed its new accreditation policy following criticism from the FBAA which said forcing brokers to submit a minimum number of loans to remain accredited is a "flawed approach".
Kathy Cummings, executive general manager, third party banking at the CBA, said the minimum criteria breaks down into one loan every six and a half weeks.
"We believe this provides professional brokers with ample opportunity to maintain their full accreditation with us and other lenders," she said.
"Commonwealth Bank has almost 22% of the home loan market share and in the broker channel our share is greater than 40%. So it is not unrealistic to expect that one in, at least, every five customers is a potential CBA client," she added.
Cummings said the bank believed "properly trained and educated brokers provide a better customer experience" adding that the accreditation requirements were designed to ensure broker partners are "competent and confident in meeting the customers' needs effectively" when recommending its products.
She said the CBA was committed to the training and on-going development of brokers.
In a recent media release, FBAA national president, Peter White, accused the banks of having "really dropped the ball over the years in terms of providing brokers with sufficient or effective training on products and policies".
"Forcing brokers to submit a minimum number of loans to remain accredited is a flawed approach. If the true motivation of the banks is quality control, then they will be better served focusing on lifting the level of training for their products, processes and policies," he added.
