Powering through the challenges
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Setting up just before COVID struck has not hampered Pepper Money New Zealand – and the non-bank lender looks set to gain traction in the months ahead
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OPENING SHOP eight months before the pandemic hit was certainly not on anyone’s radar or part of the plan for Pepper Money New Zealand. But the non-bank lender has rolled with the punches.
“Even through some of the most challenging times that we've all experienced, the business has had to balance growth while supporting financial advisers and their teams,” says national sales manager Michelle Sargeant. “And this approach has worked as we have consistently grown.”
As the New Zealand company's three-year anniversary approaches this July, Sargeant says using technology to improve its services to financial advisers will continue to be a key factor underpinning further growth – all with a distinctly Kiwi slant.
“We’ll continue to commit a lot of our time to educating our advisers,” she says.
Since entering the New Zealand market in 2019, Pepper Money has quickly established itself as a lender that truly embodies the spirit of the non-bank sector. Pepper Money provides a variety of flexible home loan solutions designed to meet customer needs. It proudly offers hard-working Kiwis a real-life and flexible approach to lending. Pepper Money looks at each Kiwi family’s or individual’s situation. Helping people succeed is at the heart of what the company does, and that means whether someone is just getting started, is recovering, or is looking to improve their situation. Now and in the future, Pepper Money is here to help people achieve that goal.
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“Our goal is to ensure a great user experience for the financial adviser and customer”
Michelle Sargeant,
Pepper Money
The role of technology
Key to that vision is the Pepper Product Selector tool, which enables a financial adviser to ask their client a series of questions that then combine with their client’s credit history data to indicate a Pepper Money product that may suit the client’s objectives and requirements.
“PPS does that by running through our matrix of products to see what option may suit the client, and that can be done within 10 minutes without even picking up your phone,” Sargeant says.
Once a client gives approval to proceed, a financial adviser can be confident that an application via Pepper Money will get to a credit assessor. Sargeant says the non-bank lender is working to coordinate more broadly with business partners in the finance space to streamline systems and processes while meeting responsible lending obligations.
It already has such an integration with Astute Financial in place and is in discussion with two other companies that are focused on delivering improved systems for their advisers.
“Our goal is to ensure a great user experience for the financial adviser and customer,” Sargeant says. “With improved technology we know this can be achieved.”
Pepper Money New Zealand is currently providing an average 24- to 48-hour turnaround for an application, with some even being cleared on the same day if all the details are submitted in the right format from the outset. This compares to five to 10 days or more at competitor institutions currently, says Sargeant.
“Everything that we choose to do from a process point of view is to ensure that we're creating a quality user experience and a really good easy flow.”
Sargeant says Pepper Money and other non-bank lenders are getting more traction in the market lately. Pepper Money has seen an uptick in interest from financial advisers since the middle of last year when it launched a new competitively priced product to shake up the market, and she expects this momentum to continue as certain aspects of the pandemic fade.
Educating financial advisers about non-bank lending so they can help more Kiwi families is also a key part of working with Pepper Money, she says.
While financial advisers vary widely in their approach and characteristics due to the variety of customers they traditionally serve, Sargeant says a financial adviser with a customer-centric business should have a very streamlined process. Other key behaviours should include active marketing of their profile through social media, strong engagement with BDMs, and a customer care program that follows up on clients six, 12 or 18 months down the track.
She says having all these ducks in a row can be quite challenging, but Pepper Money has systems and teams in place to help the financial adviser with these strategies.
The human touch
While technology is a key part of the post-pandemic world and has undoubtedly helped people become more comfortable with remote solutions, the human factor is also something Pepper Money values highly.
“We’ve got business development managers that are on the road, we’ve got relationship managers that are deskbound, and we’ve got credit assessors that actually talk to the advisers when they’re doing the credit assessment on the loan,” Sargeant says.
The human factor is crucial when building trust and is part of the education process, she adds. Every contact should include some aspect of education for the broker.
Looking ahead, Pepper Money New Zealand has a few exciting initiatives in the pipeline for later this year and in 2023.
“We want to continue educating, supporting and delivering best-in-market service through our awesome BDMs and relationship management teams,” Sargeant says.
“We’ve been able to sustain growth here in New Zealand, which is fantastic – even through challenging times”
Michelle Sargeant,
Pepper Money New Zealand
Other plans in the pipeline are designed to help brokers gain a wider audience within their communities and ensure they get the best bang for their hashtag. Sargeant says a lot of brokers who have their own businesses may not be so confident in keeping up to date and competing with corporates in social media. Pepper Money wants to enable such people to achieve more.
Sargeant also wants her team to really enjoy what they do and have the right skills and knowledge to support financial advisers.
Pepper Money New Zealand has made headway despite more than two thirds of the company’s operational life being within a COVID environment.
“We’ve been able to sustain growth here in New Zealand, which is fantastic – even through challenging times,” Sargeant says.
While there are some clouds on the horizon with inflation and a more challenging credit environment, she says Pepper Money will continue with its goal of helping advisers support more Kiwi families, while delivering sustainable growth.
“With the great support from our business partners and advisers, we have a solid footing in New Zealand and are committed to continuing this momentum.”
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Copyright © 1996-2022 Key Media, Inc.
Companies
People
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About us
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Contact Us
RSS
News
MORTGAGE INDUSTRY
BEST IN MORTGAGE
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UK
Copyright © 1996-2022 Key Media, Inc.
Companies
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RSS
$5.71bn
$3.63bn
$64m
$954m
$1.06bn
$7.60bn
FEBRuary 2021
FEBRuary 2021
$4.51bn
$52m
$1.18bn
$1.86bn
All borrower types
Other owner-occupiers
Business purposes
First home buyers
Investors
Source: Reserve Bank of New Zealand, February 2022
New residential mortgage lending in New Zealand by borrower type
$5.35bn
$11.42bn
$6.07bn
$7.46bn
$3.66bn
FEBRuary 2022
FEBRuary 2021
$9.99bn
$6.33bn
$6.73bn
Housing
Housing and personal consumer
Personal consumer
Business
Source: Reserve Bank of New Zealand, February 2022
Non-bank lending in New Zealand by sector
$5.71bn
$3.63bn
$64m
$954m
$1.06bn
$7.60bn
FEBRuary 2022
FEBRuary 2021
$4.51bn
$52m
$1.18bn
$1.86bn
All borrower types
Other owner-occupiers
Business purposes
First home buyers
Investors
Source: Reserve Bank of New Zealand, February 2022
New residential mortgage lending in New Zealand by borrower type
$5.35bn
$11.42bn
$6.07bn
$7.46bn
$3.66bn
FEBRuary 2022
FEBRuary 2021
$9.99bn
$6.33bn
$6.73bn
Housing
Housing and personal consumer
Personal consumer
Business
Source: Reserve Bank of New Zealand, February 2022
Non-bank lending in New Zealand by sector
$5.71bn
$3.63bn
$64m
$954m
$1.06bn
$7.60bn
FEBRuary 2022
FEBRuary 2021
$4.51bn
$52m
$1.18bn
$1.86bn
All borrower types
Other owner-occupiers
Business purposes
First home buyers
Investors
Source: Reserve Bank of New Zealand, March 2022
New residential mortgage lending in New Zealand by borrower type
$5.35bn
$11.42bn
$6.07bn
$7.46bn
$3.66bn
FEBRuary 2022
FEBRuary 2021
$9.99bn
$6.33bn
$6.73bn
Housing
Housing and personal consumer
Personal consumer
Business
Source: Reserve Bank of New Zealand, March 2022
Non-bank lending in New Zealand by sector