The National Australia Bank is the first of the four big banks to make changes to their mortgage broker commissions structure.
The changes come in the wake of recommendations from two reviews – the Australian Securities and Investment Commission Broker Remuneration Review and the Sedgwick Retail Banking Review.
The NAB’s changes mean they will calculate the upfront commission a broker receives for a home loan based on the amount the drawn rather than the total approved and net of any offset facility.
Executive general manager of broker partnerships at NAB, Anthony Waldron, told Australian Broker the NAB is still committed to mortgage brokers despite the changes and says the changes promote brokers putting customers’ interests first.
“Mortgage brokers play an important role in helping Australians arrange their home loans, and NAB continues to value and support them,” he said.
“We recognize that Australians increasingly use mortgage brokers, and we want to continually improve as an industry to deliver the best outcomes for Australians.”
“As an industry, we are working together to make changes that are focused on doing the right thing, and to improve customer trust.”
NAB says it will make further changes in the near future in line with agreed principles of the Combined Industry Forum (CIF) which is made up of industry bodies, lenders, mortgage brokers, aggregators, introducers and consumer groups.
The CIF’s principles are aim to ensure better consumer outcomes and improved standards of conduct and culture while at the same time fostering a culture of competition in mortgage broking.