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One of Australia’s largest mutual banks, Teacher's Mutual Bank, has entered the broker distribution channel for the very first time this week.
Teacher's Mutual Bank is the only national bank in Australia tailored towards teachers and their families. The group's national manager, third party distribution, Mark Middleton, says Teacher’s Mutual Bank hopes to bring its ‘competitive loan products’ to this ‘lucrative niche’ market with the help of brokers.
“We’ve got keen aspirations to grow our business...We realised that we’re playing in a sandpit where the full [potential] isn’t being realised - and with brokers today providing 43% of the loans in the market, we’d like to have access to part of that market,” Middleton tells Australian Broker.
The mutual bank services around 600,000 members of the education sector, including teachers, school staff and their families.
“We have a strong niche brand, servicing the 600,000-strong Australian education sector…and we’re now ideally positioned to offer access to our highly competitive products via the broker channel,” says Middleton.
Teachers Mutual Bank has already partnered with both Connective and eChoice Home Loans, and plans to continue talks with other aggregators.
Middleton says the mutual bank has made a significant investment in its broker channel and is always a strong performer in the home loan space. Teachers Mutual Bank achieved home loan growth of almost double the system average (of the banking sector) in the last financial year, demonstrating strong demand for its mortgage products.
“Given that delegates at a recent MFAA Conference were urged to target niche market opportunities, the Teachers Mutual Bank brand is highly attractive from a broker perspective, as it has an exclusive appeal to the wide range of people working in the education sector in Australia,” says Middleton.
“Our unique understanding of the education sector means we are perfectly positioned to help brokers and aggregators access this market. With over 600,000 people across Australia employed in the education industry this represents a fantastic opportunity for brokers.”
