In an exclusive interview, Home Capital's soon-to-be president and CEO reveals the lender’s future product plans and how it’s rebounded from a rocky 2015
In an exclusive interview, Home Capital's soon-to-be president and CEO reveals the lender’s future product plans and how it’s rebounded from a rocky 2015.
Martin Reid will be appointed to CEO of Home Capital on May 11. He spoke with MortgageBrokerNews.ca about future plans for CFF Bank, product launches, and how it has recovered after having to suspend 45 of its brokers for allegedly falsifying loan documents.
On Gerald Soloway’s decision to step down as CEO:
“It was Jerry’s decision,” Martin Reid told MortgageBrokerNews.ca. “And he’s still very much involved in the organization; he’ll be working with us, he’ll be sitting on the board, and he will continue to add value for years to come to the organization.”
On planned products:
“You may see a little bit of shift in new products added in. There isn’t anything at this point that is really concrete. We will continue to add new products,” Reid said. “Our credit card programs we announced in 2015 – we’re white-labelling credit card products – and you will see more stuff along those lines. As well as traditional mortgage products and being innovative about those.”
On the broker falsification document controversy last year:
“The biggest impact was reputation. We had a lot to prove and that’s why we’re taking the time and energy to rebuild the brand in terms of service to brokers but that we also reduce the risk of this ever happening again,” Reid said. “It’s a tricky balance but we think we’ve found it.
“We spent 2015 refining process and gaining broker trust. We’ve had fantastic support from the broker community and what we need to do now is live up to that service we’re known for and deliver for them.
On CFF Bank:
“The service centres are held by the holding group. We just bought the bank. In buying that bank we put in place an arrangement where we’ll provide products to those 37 centres,” Reid said. “We had an application for a bank back in 2014. Through the summer of 2015 this opportunity came up and it allowed us to get a bank license quicker and gain a distribution network at the same time.”
On recent product launches: Launch of Spire, Loft, and Concierge
Loft: “Piloting with one brokerage firm at the moment. We will be looking to roll that out at end of Q1, beginning of Q2 to all brokers,” Reid said. “There was some tweaking to work out the bugs and kinks.”
Spire: “Will launch beginning of April. It’s all ready to go.”
Concierge: “I don’t know the timeline on that. That was an easier rollout. If it’s not out yet it will be very shortly.”
On the year ahead:
“I think 2015 for us was a bit of a bump in the road,” Reid said. “We view it as just that; the whole broker fraud thing does not translate into losses and there was a lot of concern about that at the beginning of the year. 2016 is about getting back on track, getting back to the brokers in terms of service. Being back and being back much stronger.”
Martin Reid will be appointed to CEO of Home Capital on May 11. He spoke with MortgageBrokerNews.ca about future plans for CFF Bank, product launches, and how it has recovered after having to suspend 45 of its brokers for allegedly falsifying loan documents.
On Gerald Soloway’s decision to step down as CEO:
“It was Jerry’s decision,” Martin Reid told MortgageBrokerNews.ca. “And he’s still very much involved in the organization; he’ll be working with us, he’ll be sitting on the board, and he will continue to add value for years to come to the organization.”
On planned products:
“You may see a little bit of shift in new products added in. There isn’t anything at this point that is really concrete. We will continue to add new products,” Reid said. “Our credit card programs we announced in 2015 – we’re white-labelling credit card products – and you will see more stuff along those lines. As well as traditional mortgage products and being innovative about those.”
On the broker falsification document controversy last year:
“The biggest impact was reputation. We had a lot to prove and that’s why we’re taking the time and energy to rebuild the brand in terms of service to brokers but that we also reduce the risk of this ever happening again,” Reid said. “It’s a tricky balance but we think we’ve found it.
“We spent 2015 refining process and gaining broker trust. We’ve had fantastic support from the broker community and what we need to do now is live up to that service we’re known for and deliver for them.
On CFF Bank:
“The service centres are held by the holding group. We just bought the bank. In buying that bank we put in place an arrangement where we’ll provide products to those 37 centres,” Reid said. “We had an application for a bank back in 2014. Through the summer of 2015 this opportunity came up and it allowed us to get a bank license quicker and gain a distribution network at the same time.”
On recent product launches: Launch of Spire, Loft, and Concierge
Loft: “Piloting with one brokerage firm at the moment. We will be looking to roll that out at end of Q1, beginning of Q2 to all brokers,” Reid said. “There was some tweaking to work out the bugs and kinks.”
Spire: “Will launch beginning of April. It’s all ready to go.”
Concierge: “I don’t know the timeline on that. That was an easier rollout. If it’s not out yet it will be very shortly.”
On the year ahead:
“I think 2015 for us was a bit of a bump in the road,” Reid said. “We view it as just that; the whole broker fraud thing does not translate into losses and there was a lot of concern about that at the beginning of the year. 2016 is about getting back on track, getting back to the brokers in terms of service. Being back and being back much stronger.”
