18 May 2005
The extensive restructuring and the re-establishment of a dedicated Nedbank Home Loan business unit has resulted in a marked decline in the bank’s loss of home loan market share compared to that of five months ago.
“The dissolution of Nedbank’s dedicated home loan unit some years ago blurred the bank’s focus on cost structures and service support levels around home loans,” says June Tudhope, Nedbank Home Loans managing director, who took over the newly created division last October.
The creation of a stand-alone division to drive the strategy around the entire home loan process, from point of sale to that of registration, testifies to Nedbank’s commitment to home loans. A newly created executive management team of seven and workforce of 939 is also evident of the directors’ pledge for the bank to cater for all people.
In the past, poor service levels, cumbersome and slow internal processing, particularly of valuations and automated credit assessments had allowed other banks with more advanced technology, faster processing, and quicker approval times, to take the lead. Mark Danckwerts, Process divisional general manager, and Eugene Drotskie, Operations divisional general manager, have been tasked to place the bank among the forerunners in this strongly competitive arena.
Nedbank Home Loans’ credit and risk profiling is now being reviewed to align this with the bank’s market profile and Pieter van Heerden, Value Analytics divisional general manager, has been tasked with this responsibility.
To address staff challenges associated with the division’s restructuring, Diana Musara has been appointed Strategy, People, and Projects divisional general manager. Nedbank Home Loans believes that building a motivated team with a sound strategy implemented through effectively managed projects, can only improve service levels and assist with market share growth.
In addition, Nedbank’s complete range of home loan products has also been carefully assessed against those of its competitors with acceptable results. Nedbank Home Loans is now focussing on the affordable housing market, equity release products and the fine-tuning of some existing products. Lindiwe Mbongwe (nee Kubeka), Innovation and Development divisional general manager, has been tasked with addressing these areas of focus.
Greg Salter, Home Loans chief financial officer, will be keeping a close eye on the division’s financial performance and will be providing the management information to enable the team to track progress, and ensure that Home Loans’ strategic imperatives are implemented.
According to Tudhope, lending volumes from the buy-to-let home loan – another market first by Nedbank – slowed in the first quarter, which is an indication of the growing risk involved in this market. Other first quarter trends include a lowering in Nedbank’s average size of loan in the upper and affordable housing markets.
“Although 60 percent of the bank’s home loan business is being sourced through mortgage origination channels we are contemplating reinstating Nedbank’s direct distribution channels to estate agents and developers,” Tudhope continues. “This is in line with the current industry balance of about 30 percent of all home loans being directly sourced from these two channels.”
Given the current momentum of the division, Tudhope’s team is cautiously optimistic of the division “turning the corner” by the third quarter and placing Nedbank Home Loans on an equal market footing with its competitors early next year.
Online Home Loan Application
As published on the Nedbank website
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