How Suncorp Bank is winning over brokers

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The Queensland-based bank is successfully transforming itself into one of the most broker-responsive lenders, improving performance – from turnaround times to communications – and winning brokers’ trust in the process

FINANCE CIRCLE GROUP (FCG) director Nirosh Weerasinghe was uncertain when a new BDM from Suncorp called last year asking him to add the Queensland-based bank to the stable of institutions that the brokerage used. “Three years ago, the [Suncorp] turnaround was 20 days just to get a response. In May 2022, it was down to four days, which is acceptable, and this week it was two hours to unconditional approval. Now that’s amazing.” The improvements that Suncorp Bank has made to its systems are turning heads industrywide. They have helped the bank rank as the number one non-major lender for the past six months for the fastest time to formal approval, according to Connective’s TAT results.

Suncorp Bank is committed to delivering banking that's good for our customers and the community. We provide banking solutions that support sustainability and financial wellbeing. We’re committed to making it easier for brokers to do business with us. Our award-winning products and competitive interest rates set us apart from other lenders. We’re focused on making Suncorp Bank the best in market so that, under the best interests duty, brokers can choose an organisation that delivers value.

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Strong growth in Suncorp Bank home lending

1H21

“Changes have been made with one clear goal in mind: provide a consistent broker experience with a commitment to improving processes and policy that make it easier for brokers to do business with us”

Troy Fedder, Suncorp Bank

Once seen as a ‘middle of the pack’ bank in terms of reputation among brokers, based on its rankings in the annual MPA Brokers on Banks surveys, Suncorp Bank is now muscling out regional banks and larger players alike for brokers’ affections. Brokers can be creatures of habit when it comes to recommending lenders to clients, but there is no doubt that Suncorp has garnered more broker business over the last year. Its profit after tax for 1H23 was $256m, up 28% from last year, a very strong result. “The main driver of that profit was growth in home lending of 10.4% – that’s 2.1 times the rate at which the system grew, meaning we’ve gained market share in this half,” says head of broker partnerships Troy Fedder. “That growth in home lending was supported by excellent operational performance, market-leading turnaround times and an ever-improving broker and customer NPS [Net Promoter Score].”

Suncorp Bank also recorded 3.6% annualised growth in its business banking lending book for the latest half-year. Brokers cite low rates, fee waivers, great BDM support, good credit policy, quick turnaround, ease of use, low document requirements and attractive cashback schemes among reasons for giving more business to Suncorp Bank in the last 12 months. There is hardly a criterion on the wish list of what brokers look for in a lending partner that hasn’t improved in the last year. Weerasinghe echoes many of the sentiments of the broader broker community. “[The BDM’s] responsiveness was one of the things that impressed me most – it’s a key requirement of our business and that of our clients,” he says.

It’s no secret that brokers were unhappy with the bank’s proposition in the past. Its NPS in early 2021 was wallowing at minus 50, illustrating a persistent unwillingness of brokers to recommend Suncorp Bank to others. A key turning point was the appointment of Fedder in December 2020. Fedder says the improvements to date are a result of careful consultation with a range of broker stakeholders. “We regularly listen to broker feedback and have created a Broker Advisory Council with the goal of gaining broker feedback in the early stages of change initiatives,” he says. “We’ve selected brokers from various business models, those who are Suncorp Bank advocates, as well as those who have favoured other lenders in the past, so we can get genuine and diverse perspectives.” Suncorp Bank uses feedback from this council, and from its Voice of Customer responses, to formulate strategies to make changes that brokers want. “Changes have been made with one clear goal in mind: provide a consistent broker experience with a commitment to improving processes and policy that make it easier for brokers to do business with us,” says Fedder.

The approach has clearly paid off. By February this year, Suncorp Bank's broker NPS had risen to +50.5, much higher than the industry average of 11 for banking and financial services as measured by market research consultancy Evolved Thinking's Australian B2B NPS industry benchmarks 2022. This shows that satisfied brokers now far outweigh dissatisfied ones. “Turnaround times are the best they’ve ever been: Suncorp Bank SunLight loans see final approval in 48 hours or less – many within four hours, versus over seven days in the past,” says Fedder.

“Turnaround times are the best they’ve ever been: Suncorp Bank SunLight loans see final approval in 48 hours or less – many within four hours, versus over seven days in the past”

Troy Fedder, Suncorp Bank

The need for speed and a desire for communication around timelines were perhaps the clearest messages that Suncorp Bank got from its consultancy initiative. “They wanted us to be consistent in communicating and delivering our processing times.” Suncorp Bank relies on brokers for 70% of its home lending business, and good communication is of paramount importance to the relationship as brokers deal with clients ranging from nervous first home buyers to seasoned investors with their fingers in many lending pies. The bank had something of a reputation for being difficult to do business with, but in the eyes of brokers, Suncorp now appears to have successfully changed its culture of outreach. “[They went from] limited communication between the actual lender retaining the file and the broker, minimal feedback and fairly difficult interactions at times, to having a more streamlined process with very open lines of communication and a feeling of finding a way to make the deal work,” says Mortgage Choice Ormeau (Qld) owner-manager Deslie Taylor.

Taylor says the size of the bank is just right to allow it to maintain a genuinely personal service but also have the systems back-up needed to compete in a tough market. Call it the Goldilocks zone for Australian banking. “The way I explain Suncorp Bank to people – it’s big enough to have the resources and the infrastructure to make banking easy but still small enough to make you feel like they care.” BDMs and their support teams play a key role in improving relations with brokers and keeping them up to speed in a fast-changing market. “Our BDM is really interactive,” Taylor says. “Good, bad or indifferent changes, to help us run this business smoothly to ensure a seamless process for the clients – our BDM will contact us and give us a heads up that these are changes that are coming, so it doesn’t waste our time, Suncorp’s time, the lender’s time, more importantly the client’s time.” Queensland-based Taylor admits that she has always been a big Suncorp Bank supporter. But as the bank looks to the future under the ANZ umbrella if all approvals are received, it’s the fact that Suncorp Bank has successfully won back the trust of many brokers who had lost faith that is perhaps most significant. This at a time when banks everywhere are facing more competition as well as intense internal pressures on resources with the economy in a more uncertain phase. “I’m really impressed that Suncorp has gone out to the market and tried to get market share back. Lots of other lenders give up and don’t try,” says FCG’s Weerasinghe. “Suncorp asked me to give them a chance with home lending, and their proactivity has made it easier for me to give them a go.”

Suncorp Bank, we have a problem

The ‘Goldilocks’ zone

2H21

1H22

2H22

1H23

$10bn

$20bn

$30bn

$40bn

$50bn

$60bn

big jump in Net Promoter Score for suncorp bank

Early 2021

Late 2022

Early 2023

-50

-25

Note: Banking and financial services industry average is +11 as measured by Evolved Thinking's Australian B2B NPS industry benchmarks 2022

-50

+44

+50.5

“Suncorp also has a great cashback offer. Unlike most banks, there are no package fees. It’s a cost-effective way of doing business and makes an attractive offer for our clients.”

“You know where you stand. You know what you’re sending is either going to be a deal or it’s not. There’s consistency now.” Like Weerasinghe, Taylor describes the transformation that has occurred in the last few years as “amazing”. “What we’re seeing is the ability to have fantastic conversations and start building relationships with the new lenders Suncorp has within the team. I feel the attitude is: the client is the number one priority now.” This makes it much easier for Taylor to recommend Suncorp to her customers and other brokers.

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