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Suncorp Bank is describing its strategy for maximising growth in the current low-growth environment as ‘nailing efficiencies through technology solutions’ – and technology service provider NextGen.Net is playing a primary role in the scenario.
Suncorp has been receiving its electronic lodgements on the NextGen.Net processing system, ApplyOnline, for several years and is in the process of moving to direct lodgement through ApplyOnline+ through its brokers’ portal.
“The upgraded version of the software will allow us to work at a more refined level with our brokers around data quality. It’s a great tool that we can give our brokers because it helps educate the conversation,” says Suncorp GM, intermediaries, Steven Heavey.
“There’s functionality that enables us to install warning messages at point-of-sale. So when brokers input information they will be able to validate it against our document requirements and rules around capacity to repay. For example, if they were to load an application for a loan value higher than the loan security it would clearly be shown on the screen that the LVR is greater than a certain percentage and this may be outside the bank’s tolerance.”
This functionality is the ApplyOnline Policy Manager, which allows real-time policy and servicing changes and has the capability to flag inconsistencies.
“Rather than lenders having to send policy change requests to NextGen.Net, we’ve given them a ‘policy manager’ tool, which allows lenders to change policy details in real-time,” says NextGen.Net sales executive, Greg Phillips.
The ApplyOnline Policy Manager functions in conjunction with the ApplyOnline Assessment Metrics. Together they enable lenders to effect change management in real-time and allow brokers to benefit from accurate, reliable, up-to-date lender information.
“We don’t just build a platform to shoot data across from the broker to the lender. We build services that ensure applications and associated data received by lenders via ApplyOnline is quality information that will result in business that will settle. And now we’re increasing the likelihood of quality credit and policy richness,” says Phillips.
In short, this prevents brokers sending through lodgements that may not fit, eliminating reworks and producing greater conversion certainty.
Heavey says the the ultimate measure is the conversion metric.
“We use a ‘lodgement-to-settlement ratio’ to measure our efficiency and when we were looking to expand utilising a greater level of technology at our front end, it was a critical component…It will also help brokers, because at the point of lodgement they will be very clear on what documents we need in order to make an assessment. In other words, they will know whether the deal services. That means we, as an organisation, are more efficient and so too are the brokers. It’s a point of difference, which is good for all of us.”
