Credit assessor satisfaction at record high

Credit assessors achieved their highest satisfaction levels on record in August, with two non-major banks lifting their performance in the eyes of brokers, according to new data.

As Momentum Intelligence celebrates three years since the inception of the Broker Pulse survey series (launched in September 2019), the data for August 2022 has revealed that brokers assigned an overall score of 50 for credit assessors across all lender segments, the highest on record.

Brokers rate lender credit assessment staff on their level of consistency in their decision-making, responsiveness, and communication.

The survey of 221 brokers conducted between 1 and 15 September 2022 also found that in August, AMP Bank credit assessors gained significant ground, with 95 per cent of broker respondents rating their experience as positive, the second highest satisfaction rating among the large authorised deposit-taking institutions [ADI] (used by more than 20 per cent of all respondents).

Conversely, the bank had only achieved a 78 per cent positive rating and was ranked seventh in July.

Similarly, ME Bank clawed its way up to third position after achieving a 90 per cent positive rating, up from 69 per cent and ninth position in July.

Macquarie Bank maintained its lead in this segment with a 96 per cent positive rating in August (up slightly from 93 per cent in July).

On the other hand, ING tumbled from second to eighth position in August, as its positive rating slipped from 93 per cent in the previous month to 82 per cent.

Among the major banks, Westpac lost ground, finishing second last in the large ADI segment, with a 49 per cent positive rating for its credit assessors, down from 52 per cent.

However, its subsidiary St.George Banking Group recorded a slight uptick with its positive rating from 40 per cent to 45 per cent but continued to be ranked last.

Among the less commonly used ADIs (those used by less than 20 per cent of broker respondents), Bank Australia and MyState achieved perfect scores.

Liberty Financial rose from sixth to the top-ranked lender in the non-bank segment, after 96 per cent of broker respondents rated its credit assessors positively, up from 74 per cent in July.

Non-major banks BDMs rated highly

Business development managers (BDM) across all lender segments held steady in August, maintaining their record high score of 58 from brokers, according to the Broker Pulse survey.

Continuing its streak of improvement, AMP Bank emerged with a perfect score for its positive rating, and climbed from fifth position in July to the top-rated large ADI in August.

As a result, the non-major bank’s overall satisfaction rating jumped from 79 per cent to 95 per cent in August.

Satisfaction with ME Bank’s BDMs rose by over 20 percentage points between July and August to 85 per cent, while Suncorp BDMs achieved a positive rating of 83 per cent, up from 74 per cent in July.

Macquarie Bank BDMs achieved a 95 per cent positive rating in August (up from 92 per cent in July), but slipped to second position behind AMP Bank.

Among the major banks, Westpac was ranked second last in the large ADI segment but satisfaction with its BDMs was up from 44 per cent in July to 60 per cent in August.

In the small ADI segment, five out of 12 lender BDMs achieved perfect scores in August (up from three in July), while only three were assigned a negative rating.

While none of the non-banks achieved a perfect score, Liberty Financial BDMs mirrored the performance of its credit assessors with a 96 per cent positive rating from brokers, the highest in the most commonly used non-bank segment in the Broker Pulse survey.

Commenting on the performance of credit assessors and BDMs, Momentum Intelligence director Michael Johnson said: “Credit assessors have one of the toughest positions in financial services and by working effectively with brokers, the outputs are fast, compliant and consistent decisions.

“The relationships between brokers and BDMs are critical for successful client outcomes and the Broker Pulse survey continues to show that brokers are extremely satisfied with many BDMs across the country.”

‍