In chapter five, Choice Practice Development Manager, Bruce Vale, explains how to ease your compliance burden
Compliance support was called out as the top aggregator service in MPA’s Brokers on Aggregators survey this year, and for good reason.
Regulatory bodies continually seek to ensure our industry contributes to a strong and sustainable marketplace. Brokers today are facing constant change within their industry and a rapidly evolving marketplace, both of which have really brought compliance to the front of mind.
Quality support from a good aggregator can make all the difference when it comes to tackling compliance issues. Here are some of the ways an aggregator can help.
Broker education
Without clear and concise education and information, constant change has the potential to create myths and rumours within the wider marketplace.
An aggregator can assist brokers by maintaining strong relationships with lender partners and meeting with them often to understand their policies and any regulatory pressures they may be facing.
Throughout the year, we provide many opportunities for brokers to meet with lenders themselves, from localised peer-to peer-sessions to our own formal Professional Development days.
The more educated brokers are on lending policies and compliance requirements, the greater the opportunity is for them to provide a higher level of client service and advice.
Automated processes
Today aggregators’ systems are designed to reduce the burden of compliance for brokers. The Podium system we use at Choice, for example, offers a built-in workflow system which provides automated emails to clients and sets tasks to assist the broker throughout the loan process.
Once the client data is held in the system, brokers can use it to generate responsible lending and disclosure documents. All compliance documents are then held in one place to reduce brokers’ storage requirements.
Personal service
At Choice, we use multiple forms of communication to keep our brokers up to date with legislation. For major changes this would include webinars and local information sessions, while for the more regular updates we provide constant updates via the information feed on Podium.
Overall, we at Choice believe compliance changes are helping protect both brokers and their clients. Brokers today have deeper conversations with their clients, and operate with increasing transparency, both of which are giving a greater level of comfort around the end decision.
Bruce Vale is a Practice Development Manager for Queensland with Choice. This article is part of a series featuring Choice Aggregation's broker support team focusing on how they help their brokers overcome common challenges. Find out more http://www.choiceaggregationservices.com.au/success.
Previous diary chapters:
Recruiting the right people
Getting the most out of peer-to-peer learning
Ella Moradi on tips for tackling marketing
Making the most of your lending panels
