6 things you didn’t know about NAB’s relaunch

NAB Broker is gone, and in its place there’s new products, personnel and policies you need to deal with.

It’s easy to get cynical about rebrands: in their frantic rush to keep up with millennial customers, banks are coming out with new products on an almost annual basis.

In NAB’s case, for most of us Homeside is not ancient history; it only went away in 2014. Yet NAB’s latest effort – going from NAB Broker to just NAB – is far more than a name change, for six important reasons.
  1. It’s not just a product launch
In its most obvious sense it is a product launch, with brokers being given access to the four main NAB products. Yet according to broker chief Steve Kane it’s also a ‘cultural change’ whereby all parts of NAB, including CEO Anthony Waldron, have accepted they need to fully work with brokers, completing the journey that started with the dropping of Homeside. That includes bulking up resources for NAB’s broker call centre and their processing hubs to speed up turnaround time.
  1. It’s already started
NAB Broker will be officially wound down by the end of November; however the soft launch of the new products took place six weeks ago, and all aggregator systems will be changed by this Friday (30th September). The portfolio product will be in place by December this year. NAB Broker’s existing book will be moved to the new products over the next 12 months, but Kane promises no customer will be left worse off.
  1. Credit policies are changing
NAB are trying to iron out broker-direct channel discrepancies when it comes to credit policy and offers, including giving brokers access to 10 year interest only loans. However Kane insists commissions (including ramped trail) won’t be affected.
  1. Find a CAB
Despite the name, NAB aren’t pursuing some deluded Uber-inspired diversification play: instead CAB refers to customer advisor broker (otherwise termed banker-brokers), who will be branch-based staff to liaise between brokers and the bank. They will provide a physical point of contact for customer and broker, get the customer onboarded, and establish long term relationships with brokers, and will be rolled out nationally to key branches over the next 6 months. 
  1. Channel conflict no more
Or at least that’s the idea. Alongside the CABs advocating for brokers, branch staff have been retrained to respect the broker relationship, help broker customers in branch, and there’s an end to incentives for transferring broker customers in-branch. That includes a form where brokers outline exactly what branch staff may discuss with their client – i.e. selling credit cards is ok but offering financial planning is not. 
  1. Electronic signatures are on the horizon
Over the next 6-12 months, NAB says brokers will see improvements including e-signature capacity and an automated pricing tool (in the new year).

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