BDM in the spotlight: Nina Griffith

This week's CUA BDM for Perth has been working with brokers for the last three years.

Although always part of the finance industry, CUA's BDM for Perth, Nina Griffith previously worked in retail banking for 8 years.

BDM in the spotlight asks a different BDM the same seven questions – giving you a weekly insight into the lives of some of the top BDM’s in the country.

How often do you see brokers in a week?
I typically visit 10-15 broker offices each week. I also have nearly 30 brokers in regional areas of WA, and I make sure I visit those regional areas twice a year.

What do brokers want most from you?
I recently won the Smartline Lender of the Year Award in WA for second-tier lenders. The feedback brokers gave as part of the award was they appreciate that I am accessible, I return phone calls and I go out on the road and visit brokers to provide face to face support. That makes the brokers feel valued. I’m always happy to help when they don’t know how to structure a deal or if they aren’t sure about a particular scenario. They feel like I’m in their corner.

What is your favourite part of the job? 
There’s two parts I really love. Firstly it’s the people I get to deal with. The brokers I support are a great group and many feel like friends rather than contacts. Secondly, I love working on challenging and difficult loans and succeeding in getting them across the line.

What distinguishes the best brokers you deal with? 
A sense of humour is really important. We work in a profession which can be stressful and not every loan will go according to plan. 

Describe your ideal weekend. 
I love camping, motorbike riding and four-wheel-driving. Not ‘glamping’ though – it has to be a real escape out of the city to where you have no phone reception, no facilities and you’re sleeping under the stars.

What’s the strangest lending scenario you’ve ever encountered? 
I don’t get many cases that are out of the ordinary. I once had a client trying to get a loan for a rotunda style house with eight sides and no roof over an atrium-style area in the centre. It was pretty unusual so it didn’t meet the lending criteria.

How do you like your steak done? 
Medium rare with mushroom sauce and mashed potato.
 
Every Wednesday we’ll feature a different BDM from across Australia. If you’d like to be included, please email the editor.

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