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SYDNEY: Financial planning and mortgage broking businesses are high on the National Australia Bank’s (NAB) agenda with its business division, NAB Financial Planning & Third Party, set to meet the needs of self employed businesses.
Under the Australian regional model the NAB has brought together the financial advice arm of MLC and the division of NAB that manages relationships with external mortgage brokers, to create a business responsible for managing the NAB’s relationships with self employed businesses in the financial planning and mortgage broking industries.
“Self employed businesses are not only looking for a business partner that can provide leading products and services, they also want support to grow their business and tools to help them run it in the most efficient way,” said Matt Lawler, Regional General Manager, NAB Financial Planning & Third Party.
“There are many similarities between the mortgage broking and financial advice industries and it makes sense to bring these businesses together to enable us to leverage skills and expertise.
“The financial advice industry has been through significant change during the past 5-10 years as it has moved from being focused on product sales to the delivery of a more sophisticated advice proposition involving initial and ongoing advice services.
“With the significant increase in industry competition some mortgage brokers are looking to expand their service proposition to their clients and move more into the financial advice arena.
“Having supported financial advisers through a similar transition places us in a strong position to be able to do the same for mortgage brokers.”
Mr Lawler said one of the areas mortgage brokers were particularly interested in was how they can meet the insurance needs of their customers in conjunction with the home loan. This includes fire and general insurance, life and income protection insurance.
“To provide advice on insurance a mortgage broker will more frequently need to operate under an Australian Financial Services License and complete some further study, both of which are available within NAB Financial Planning & Third Party,” Mr Lawler said.
“There is also a vast array of support services available to financial advisers that we can leverage with mortgage brokers including technology platforms, training programs, compliance monitoring, practice management support and succession planning strategies.”
Mr Lawler said financial advisers were also set to benefit from the new business structure as more financial advisers move into lending.
“In 2003/04, NAB sold $1.5 billion of lending solutions through its adviser network and we expect this trend to continue as advisers continue to meet a broader range of their customers’ needs.”
“The mortgage broking and financial planning industries have experienced significant growth in the past few years as many time poor Australians are wanting to deal with one central point of contact who can either take care of their multiple needs directly or introduce an alliance partner who can meet their broader needs.
“The intermediary distribution model is an important plank in the NAB’s growth strategy and we are focused on staying ahead of the game and being in a strong position to help self employed businesses evolve as market dynamics change,” Mr Lawler said.
About National Financial Planning & Third Party
National Financial Planning & Third Party supports financial advisers operating under the financial services licenses of Godfrey Pembroke Limited, Apogee Financial Planning Limited and GWM Adviser Services Limited (trading as Garvan Financial Planning and MLC Financial Planning). The business also provides infrastructure and services to the financial planners who operate within the National Australia Bank branches. In addition to partnering with advisers, National Financial Planning & Third Party has relationships under the HomeSide Lending brand with around 250 mortgage broker companies representing approximately 9,000 individual loan writers across Australia.
For further media information, please contact:
Stacey Mitchell
NAB Australia Corporate Affairs
Tel: (02) 9966 3035
Mob: 0400 305 446
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