Morning Briefing: NAB's Anthony Waldron speaks out on “doing the right thing”

NAB's Anthony Waldron speaks out on “doing the right thing”
“Trust is the cornerstone of our industry, gained through honesty, integrity, ethics, compliance with regulatory requirements and ‘doing the right thing’ in interests of customers,” says NAB executive general manager, broker partnerships Anthony Waldron.

He said it is essential that the industry, including brokers, aggregators and lenders, continually uphold the highest standards. 

“I believe the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009 (NCCP) has helped to grow trust in the broker market by creating a regulated lending framework and improving the quality of engagement with customers. We now need to take this further through our own practices. One of the best ways we can do this is by ensuring absolute transparency for our customers, and managing the risk of a perceived conflict of interest. Customers know that their brokers have access to as wide a choice of lenders as possible. Brokers access these lenders through their aggregator. The average number of lenders available on most aggregator panels is circa 30 plus. Many of these lenders could not grow if it wasn’t for the support of the broker market. This has created a much more competitive home loan market – and ultimately greater choice for consumers."

He believes disclosure of broker commissions, incentives and relationships are key to gaining the customer's trust and for them to make a truly informed choice they need to know who is getting paid by whom and how much.

"It is for that reason that as a lender, NAB does not pay any sort of volume bonus on mortgages. Whether VBIs have an influence on which mortgage is actually recommended to the customer is not the point – it’s the lack of transparency, which undermines public trust," he said.

“If we can learn anything from overseas markets and even the financial services industry here at home, it is that trust can erode quickly. While yesterday’s behaviours are often judged by today’s standards, you can also strengthen trust by demonstrating your focus on doing the right thing by your customers every day.”