Newpark promises mortgage advisers something new

Newpark reveals details of its new mortgage dealer group and promises advisers it will bring a new model with "choice and flexibility" to the market.

Friday, October 26th 2018, 9:51AM

Newpark Home Loans general manager Andrew Scott says there will be an inevitable focus on the price of its new model, however it is "all about delivering real choice and flexibility to advisers".

Scott outlined plans for Newpark Home Loans at a function in Auckland this week.

The key points are that Newpark only wants experienced advisers in the group, and there is a heavy focus on businesses which also write good volumes of life insurance. The pricing structure has been done in such away to reward advisers who write life insurance.

There are three plans and four tiers under each plan based on how much annual premium income (API) is written. (See table below)

A key difference between Newpark's pricing and other groups is that it is done on a per brokerage basis, not a fee per individual adviser. However, with this model commission is paid to the brokerage not the individual adviser.

"Our model provides choice and flexibility," he says. "You haven't had that in the past."

DIGITAL SALUTE TO CROWDED MARKET

Scott says there are 13 groups in the market currently and it's very crowded and competitive. Despite that there is a place for a new group.

He says some groups are very niche, others are not so visible and some are hamstrung by technology.

While Newpark has built its own CRM for its insurance advisers it is planning to offer an off-the-shelf CRM for mortgage advisers. The package it is looking at is widely used in Australia.

Scott says "it’s very clear that the future of mortgage broking in New Zealand is digital. The days of retyping customer data into PDF application forms for lenders that use optical character recognition software are rapidly coming to end. As an industry we have work together to deliver real-time loan approval responses 24/7 to meet the digital expectations of borrowers. If we can accomplish that then the industry has a very bright future.”

Newpark Home Loans will pay commission from a trust account and it will have in-house training available for advisers to gain their Level Five qualifications which will be required under the proposed new adviser laws. This training will be free under all the plans as long as the group writes a minimum of $30,000 API in a year.

Likewise its CRM will be free under each plan as long as $50,000 API is written each year. If this level isn't reached then the CRM will cost $175 plus GST per month.

PARTNERSHIP ENDED, FIRST MEMBER NAMED

Gopal Sreenivasan Previously Newpark's mortgage business was run in a 50:50 joint venture with MortgageLink, however that relationship has ended and Newpark now fully owns the business.

"We will be transitioning away from MortgageLink management at the end of this year," Scott said.

Scott announced that Newpark Home Loans had signed up its first member, Gopal Sreenivasan (pictured).

His business, based in Waitakere, is currently under the Loan Market brand and it is one of the big writers for the group.

FEEDBACK WANTED

While the group won't be up and running until the start of next year, Scott is keen to get feedback from mortgage advisers to help further refine the structure.

"We want your feedback. It's not the finished product yet," he told the group.

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