The Commonwealth Bank of Australia expects to have the CIF-recommended changes to broker commissions instated “ahead of 30 June” next year, according to its general manager for distribution strategy and execution.
Speaking to The Adviser following CBA’s announcement that it would no longer accept accreditations from new mortgage brokers with less than two years of experience (or from those that only hold a Cert IV in Finance & Mortgage Broking), CBA’s general manager for third-party banking, Sam Boer, and Matthew Dawson, general manager for distribution strategy and execution, revealed that they expect to change broker commissions next winter.
Mr Boer and Mr Dawson both welcomed the Combined Industry Forum’s reform package, which was released last week (and to which Commonwealth Bank was a contributor) and included recommendations that lenders pay brokers commission on a utilisation basis (i.e., based on facility limit drawn down by the customer and, in cases where the loan has an offset account, on the amount drawn down net of offset account balances).
General manager Boer said: “The whole industry got behind that one and we thought it addresses the concern raised around the potential conflict of interest and we’re very much supportive of that and working through our solution with our business partners on how we might go about implementing that in the new year.”
Mr Dawson added: “We are still working through the how of the commission changes, but we expect that we will still have it implemented ahead of 30 June.”
The CIF reform package states that it expects the commission changes to be implemented by lenders by “end 2018”.
Changes to CBA accreditation for new brokers
Last week, the major bank revealed that it would be making major changes to the way it accredits new brokers.
From “the first quarter of 2018”, new mortgage brokers will be required to meet new minimum education standards to be able to write Commonwealth Bank loans and demonstrate a commitment to professional development and on-the-job experience.
For CBA accreditation, all new brokers will soon be required to meet the following standards:
– Hold at least a Diploma of Finance and Mortgage Broking Management
– Have at least two years’ experience writing regulated residential loans
– Be a current member of either the Mortgage and Finance Association of Australia (MFAA) or the Finance Brokers Association of Australia (FBAA)
– Be a Direct Credit Representative or employee of an approved Aggregator/Head Group or Australian Credit License (ACL) holder
Mr Dawson told The Adviser: “We will absolutely be building a training framework and ongoing professional development framework as part of the rollout of the new strategy coming in to ensure that the brokers we’re partnering with feel assured and comfortable when they are sitting down in front of a customer to have really deep conversations around appropriate products for them.
“We will be providing that and equally working with the head group programs to ensure that the head groups that have their own professional development programs… that we support each other…. We provide content for their platforms and, where appropriate, we will rely on their platforms as a means of us getting comfort over the professional development of brokers.”
Mr Dawson continued: “I think, for us, this has been about working with the [Combined] Industry Forum and we have played a key lead role in that.
“It has been really important for us, and we are really supportive of the industry forum and the consultation process that we ran in terms of the engagement with brokers.”
He revealed that the bank surveyed 12,000 brokers in July and got nearly 2,000 respondents.
“We’ve had focus groups with many brokers right throughout the country over the last couple of month. We’ve met with every head group. This has been, for us, all about residential and making sure we support a robust industry and support the longevity of the industry.”
