BDM, credit assessor ratings back at record highs

Lender BDMs and credit assessors have continued to rate highly among brokers, who assigned them the highest satisfaction score on record in June, new data has revealed.

The survey of 235 residential brokers conducted between 1 and 14 July to uncover their experiences with lenders throughout June 2022 found that lender business development managers (BDM) achieved a score of 56, the highest on record and matching scores in March 2022 and October 2021.

BDMs have managed to consistently score at around this level since February 2022, after plummeting to only 38 in January 2022.

BDM satisfaction climbs across several lenders

Macquarie Bank BDMs achieved the highest satisfaction rate for the third consecutive month in June 2022 among the most commonly used authorised deposit-taking institutions [ADI] (those used by more than 20 per cent of broker respondents), with 92 per cent rating their experiences as positive.

Many large ADIs recorded higher satisfaction ratings in June compared to the previous month.

For example, the proportion of brokers rating their BDM experience at Suncorp (which recently signed an agreement to sell its bank to ANZ) as positive surged 20 percentage points to 88 per cent in June. As a result, the lender rose from 10^th to sixth position.

Alongside this, Suncorp’s broker experience rating jumped from 67 per cent in May to 79 per cent in June, driven not only by increased broker satisfaction with its BDMs, but also its application, assessment, and settlement processes.

Broker satisfaction with Adelaide Bank BDMs rose 15 percentage points to 90 per cent in June, and by 14 percentage points to 71 per cent at ME Bank. Meanwhile, AMP Bank BDMs achieved a 90 per cent positive rating from brokers, up 18 percentage points on May.

On the other hand, satisfaction with Westpac’s BDMs slumped 18 percentage points to 59 per cent (which had an adverse impact on its overall broker experience ratings).

Consequently, the major bank tumbled from sixth to second last position in June 2022 in the BDM metric.

More non-banks record negative ratings in June

Among the less commonly used ADIs (those used by less than 20 per cent of broker respondents), Citibank climbed seven positions in June to claim top spot and achieve a 93 per cent positive rating.

However, while two lenders in this segment achieved perfect scores in May, none were able to do so in June.

On the other hand, Bank Australia and HSBC BDMs did not score a positive rating from any of the broker respondents in June.

HSBC also failed to record a positive rating for its application and settlement processes.

Among the most-commonly used non-banks, only Resimac BDMs achieved a 100 per cent positive rating, while six lender BDMs scored negative ratings in June (up from three in May).

Broker report strong satisfaction with credit assessors

Broker respondents assigned credit assessors a score of 48 in June, the highest on record and equal to February 2022.

Similar to BDM scores, credit assessor scores have remained consistently high since February after plunging to 31 in January 2022.

Macquarie Bank continued to maintain its lead among the most commonly used ADIs, with a 96 per cent positive rating, while NAB jumped three places to second place with a 93 per cent positive rating in June.

Credit assessors across a total of six most commonly used ADIs achieved a higher positive rating in June but satisfaction dipped across five lenders in this segment.

Among the less commonly used ADIs, HSBC credit assessors achieved a 100 per cent positive rating (in contrast with its BDM performance), while Bank Australia and Beyond Bank also achieved perfect scores.

Nine lenders in this segment recorded negative ratings from brokers, up from eight in May.

In the most commonly used non-bank segment, credit assessors at AFG Home Loans, Connective Home Loans and Resimac achieved 100 per cent positive ratings, while only four lenders recorded negative experiences from brokers (down from six in May).

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