MonCana Bank of Canada has been a broker favourite ever since entering the channel – a popularity that perhaps this year will be reflected in CMP’s Brokers on Lenders survey.
MonCana Bank of Canada has been a broker favourite ever since entering the channel – a popularity that perhaps this year will be reflected in CMP’s Brokers on Lenders survey.
“Our approach has focused on developing partnerships with brokers, many of whom have supported us in our past,” says Darren Thompson, the senior vice president of sales and marketing at MonCana Bank. “Our focus was to start slowly, with an experienced sales team and to leverage the years of success that they have had in business. We would then look at attracting new relationships in other territories by hiring similar experienced professionals.”
Since MonCana joined the channel in 2011, it has looked for new ways to broaden its appeal for brokers in the marketplace – like the switch program with no legal/appraisal fees on CMHC and Genworth insured mortgages. And although MonCana hasn’t in past years had enough brokers fill out Brokers on Lenders surveys to make it into the final standings, reviews have been favourable.
That kind of feedback points to its steady approach, argue some industry players.
“We are implementing our business plan both strategically and methodically – that is our approach,” Thompson told MortgageBrokerNews.ca. “We are not expanding rashly across Canada as it is hard to then satisfy every client’s needs.”
Still the annual CMP survey can add great insight into what lenders are doing right and wrong, suggests Thompson. The challenge for MonCana is by dealing with a select number of accounts, it has been difficult to win respondent support on a national survey of mortgage brokers.
But, he says, “we are definitely gaining significant market share in the geographic areas we are soliciting business from,”
At the end of the first quarter, the bank launched a new program allowing brokers to deal with a dedicated inside sales team with no volume commitment and participate in a renewal compensation program at a reduced level with only needing to remain an approved submitting broker.
“It is simple and easy to participate in from the broker’s perspective,” says Thompson, “and so far this program is progressing nicely but still has a long way to go”
Last year’s fifth annual Brokers on Lenders survey was strong, with nearly 400 mortgage professionals taking the time to answer questions and provide candid feedback on lenders in 11 categories: approval/ loan turnaround times, underwriter support, BDM support, broker support, transparency of commission structure, IT and electronic/technology, interest rates, product range, overall service level to brokers, satisfaction index on overall credit policy, and overall lender performance. This year’s survey includes a new optional section, specifically tracking the types of deals brokers are arranging and, more importantly, who those deals are going to and why?
In last year’s survey, brokers placed approval and turnaround times as the most important to them (34 per cent), followed by underwriter support and overall service levels to brokers (23 and 21 per cent). Of interest, interest rates and product range only found importance among 7 per cent and 5 per cent of brokers who participated in the survey.
Those brokers wishing to participate in the survey can click here.
