BDM and credit teams boosted as lender targets investors, self-employed
It’s a sign of just how seriously Athena Home Loans values the third-party channel that it co-designed its new loan offerings in collaboration with mortgage brokers.
Athena launched its new suite of Tailored lending products, which include Self-Employed Lite Doc and 80 – 85% No LMI, on Tuesday.
The non-bank lender said they would “deliver unparalleled broker and end customer experience, scaled with dedicated BDM expertise and credit teams for fast workshopping”.
Ahena national BDM – specialised products Stephane Feuillye (pictured above left) said the company recognised the critical importance of brokers in the home loan market.
“Brokers share a very similar mission to Athena in that they exist to provide the best outcome and experience for customers,” Feuillye said. “This aligns so closely with Athena’s mission to change home loans for good. Setting brokers up for success is fundamentally important to Athena.”
Feuillye said this was why Athena was obsessed with deep partnerships where it co-created the product and service experiences it needed, and those that its customers needed.
“We co-designed our Tailored product experience directly with brokers to deliver on the underserved needs of this sophisticated borrower cohort,” said Athena CEO and co-founder Nathan Walsh (pictured above right).
Tailored loans for borrowers
In addition to the Self-Employed Lite Doc and 80% - 85% No LMI, which are available now, Athena is also introducing a Non-Natural Persons and Trusts product in September.
These products will be made available to brokers through two aggregators – the white label Mortgage Choice Freedom Tailored range, and to LMG through Athena Tailored.
Feuillye said Self-Employed Lite Doc was designed for borrowers in a strong financial position but who needed some flexibility around the documentation they had to provide.
“For example, lodging their tax return is simply not aligned to when they want to make a move on housing finance,” he said.
“Our policies offer flexible income verification, and our broad product range also means they don’t need to go to one lender for a lite doc product and then go somewhere different and go through the whole process again once they are ready to move to full doc.”
Another key feature informed by broker co-design was Tailored’s personalised pricing. Feuillye said this recognised that not all business owners were the same. “We should be fairly rewarding customers for their business expertise with a rate that reflects their situation.”
Tailored’s 80 –85% No LMI solution supported good borrowers who often had cash tied up in other ventures and didn’t want to delay getting into the market or wanted extra flexibility without the cost of LMI.
Feuillye said when launched in September, the non-trading trusts and companies product would provide a solution for investors and self-employed borrowers looking for a sophisticated way to structure their property investments.
“The full suite offers our rich features: splits, offsets, multi-collateral and a rich digital experience with the mobile app. This is supported by great rates and pricing, as well as best in market SLAs and broker support,” he said.
Broker feedback helped Athena
Walsh said an essential part of Athena’s proposition and one of the keys to the success it was experiencing with its aggregator partners was “a relentless approach to listening to broker feedback”.
“Taking that insight – what's great, where is there work to do, where are the opportunities – to look at how we can do things differently,” said Walsh.
“There is an underserved segment of investors and self-employed borrowers who need more flexibility when it comes to their financials, but also deserve a fully featured product.
“When you look at most tailored products on offer, they are pretty basic, whereas these products will offer splits, offsets, multi-collateral and a rich digital experience with the mobile app.”
Boost for BDM and credit teams
Athena has also strengthened its BDM and credit teams with new hires. Walsh said this had added substantial expertise in sophisticated lending scenarios.
“We are committed to maintaining our reputation for accessibility, reliability and speed across both of these teams. The initial scale in these teams will be monitored aligned to volume and we will continue to build as needed.”
The new product suite will include fast credit workshopping with Feuillye leading the BDMs nationally.
“I’ve been supporting brokers to grow their businesses for much of my 20+ year career in home loans,” Feuillye said. “Being able to do this at Athena … is something I am genuinely excited about.”
Athena on growth trajectory
The non-bank fintech was founded in June 2017 by Walsh and co-founder Michael Starkey with “a mission to change home loans for good”.
Walsh said this meant being able to service more of the market with unparalleled product experiences.
“Initially, our focus was on the prime owner occupier and investor segments; and with those products firmly in market, it was time to respond to the next opportunity,” Walsh said. “We consulted with brokers extensively to size those segments with the greatest need, and identified Tailored as the next area of focus.”
To date, Athena has settled $7.5 billion loans and all of its products are listed on serviceability aggregator Quickli, recognising the importance of this broker tool.
Starkey said Athena continued to notch up record RMBS funding, as seen in March with the $1bn Olympus deal. He said this result was off the back of strong investor demand for securitised debt, coupled with the business’ growth through quality lending.
“At both a customer and a market level, we have focused on building a business with a reputation for prioritising transparency, fairness and integrity to deliver powerful value,” said Starkey.
“The fact that we also have strong diversity in funding at a capital level – with investment from major local and offshore banks – signifies the overall position of our business in the market.”
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