iSelect’s group executive of financial services, Alan Caputo, talks about combining brokers and technology and pioneering the 100% digital home loan
MPA talks to Alan Caputo, iSelect’s group executive of financial services, about combining brokers and technology and pioneering the 100% digital home loan
MPA: How does iSelect’s mortgage broking business fit into the third party channel, in your opinion?
Alan Caputo: In today’s day and age, particularly with online research being so prevalent, there’s a massive customer base who want to look at home loan options in their own homes in their own time. The way I look at it is that we’re creating an ecosystem that allows you to do that, so you can actually look at what options there are to refinance your home, or buy a new home; and whatever that might be, do that research at home using digital platforms with a human touch.
There are a lot of things that we have online, and in our sales funnel that takes the customer from the research journey right through to settlement, and there are tools that make that quicker. Effectively, we remove the pain points so customers aren’t having to run around to various locations or have someone in their home, or sign massive piles of documents or those sorts of things.
We feel, from a strategic point of view, that we’re effectively simplifying the process and guiding you through it right through to settlement.
MPA: iSelect’s 100% digital home loan process launched last year. How does it work and how are consumers using it?
AC: There are various platforms and pieces of technology that we’ve plugged in to assist that, but effectively we have the ability to lodge an application without a wet signature. That means we can service the nation from any location with a very quick service offering.
We have the ability to do that because we use tools such as Proviso and DocuSign. With a tool like Proviso we’re able to get financials within 20 seconds, and compliance documents signed within the hour. You send it through to the customer via email; the read it; there’s no wet signature required: they can sign it via DocuSign and be done and dusted. Whereas if you think of the old method, you’d have to send out a pack for them to read. That could take a week; it might get lost in the mail; they might sign it in the wrong spot and send it back; a lot of toing and froing – that’s all been completely eliminated now.
MPA: Why do consumers switch between digital and talking to a broker when looking for and applying for a mortgage?
AC: When you think of a home loan it’s someone’s greatest asset, right? It’s the biggest decision they’re going to make, so they’re quite happy to do a lot of the research online, which we know people do, but they want that affirmation and support from a qualified broker to help guide them through the process. Where the broker is really involved is when they make that recommendation and take it from the application phase right through to settlement.
MPA: With realestate.com.au and domain.com.au entering online broking, how are you going to stay ahead over the next 12 months?
AC: Make no mistake; there is a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes to make it seem like a seamless, efficient process to the customer. There’s a lot of work we need to do internally to continually pioneer change within the industry, and we’ll continue to do that, but after being in the mortgage market for six years now we’re in a place where we’re continually refining our product offering; we’ve got the ability to offer approval within 12 hours for certain segments … we feel we’re at the right stage now where we can start to scale the business and really target that customer base.
We feel where we sit at the moment we’ve got a pretty compelling value proposition, because we’re able to support the customer with the home loan, but we can also support the customer with their gas, electricity and telco needs in one spot. For us, the next 12–18 months are going to be massive; it’s a very exciting time at iSelect.
MPA: How does iSelect’s mortgage broking business fit into the third party channel, in your opinion?
Alan Caputo: In today’s day and age, particularly with online research being so prevalent, there’s a massive customer base who want to look at home loan options in their own homes in their own time. The way I look at it is that we’re creating an ecosystem that allows you to do that, so you can actually look at what options there are to refinance your home, or buy a new home; and whatever that might be, do that research at home using digital platforms with a human touch.
There are a lot of things that we have online, and in our sales funnel that takes the customer from the research journey right through to settlement, and there are tools that make that quicker. Effectively, we remove the pain points so customers aren’t having to run around to various locations or have someone in their home, or sign massive piles of documents or those sorts of things.
We feel, from a strategic point of view, that we’re effectively simplifying the process and guiding you through it right through to settlement.MPA: iSelect’s 100% digital home loan process launched last year. How does it work and how are consumers using it?
AC: There are various platforms and pieces of technology that we’ve plugged in to assist that, but effectively we have the ability to lodge an application without a wet signature. That means we can service the nation from any location with a very quick service offering.
We have the ability to do that because we use tools such as Proviso and DocuSign. With a tool like Proviso we’re able to get financials within 20 seconds, and compliance documents signed within the hour. You send it through to the customer via email; the read it; there’s no wet signature required: they can sign it via DocuSign and be done and dusted. Whereas if you think of the old method, you’d have to send out a pack for them to read. That could take a week; it might get lost in the mail; they might sign it in the wrong spot and send it back; a lot of toing and froing – that’s all been completely eliminated now.
MPA: Why do consumers switch between digital and talking to a broker when looking for and applying for a mortgage?
AC: When you think of a home loan it’s someone’s greatest asset, right? It’s the biggest decision they’re going to make, so they’re quite happy to do a lot of the research online, which we know people do, but they want that affirmation and support from a qualified broker to help guide them through the process. Where the broker is really involved is when they make that recommendation and take it from the application phase right through to settlement.
MPA: With realestate.com.au and domain.com.au entering online broking, how are you going to stay ahead over the next 12 months?
AC: Make no mistake; there is a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes to make it seem like a seamless, efficient process to the customer. There’s a lot of work we need to do internally to continually pioneer change within the industry, and we’ll continue to do that, but after being in the mortgage market for six years now we’re in a place where we’re continually refining our product offering; we’ve got the ability to offer approval within 12 hours for certain segments … we feel we’re at the right stage now where we can start to scale the business and really target that customer base.
We feel where we sit at the moment we’ve got a pretty compelling value proposition, because we’re able to support the customer with the home loan, but we can also support the customer with their gas, electricity and telco needs in one spot. For us, the next 12–18 months are going to be massive; it’s a very exciting time at iSelect.
