Finsure is the first Australian mortgage broker aggregator to provide open banking access for its brokers.
The leading aggregator has more than 2,500 brokers nationally, so in partnership with open banking provider Frollo and lending technology provider NextGen, Finsure can now provide its brokers access to the open banking-powered Financial Passport to collect customer data for use in their loan application process.
The solution is integrated into the Finsure broker workflow through NextGen’s ApplyOnline, significantly reducing the time brokers spend on reconciliation and processing applications. The Financial Passport provides Finsure brokers with a complete financial picture of their clients, using bank-verified data as a single source of truth.
It includes a view of customers’ income, expenses, assets and liabilities. Brokers clients using open banking data have the benefits of being more secure and providing better privacy protection than traditional alternatives.
“Open banking streamlines the process for both brokers and their customers and with only a few clicks, the customer shares their complete financial profile with the broker in an easy-to-use format,” a Frollo spokesperson said.
“For brokers, the fact this is completely integrated into the broker workflow through NextGen’s ApplyOnline means they’ll spend much less time on reconciliation and processing applications.”
The spokesperson told Australian Broker that 2023 is the year of go-live for open banking.
“After two years of building and testing the ecosystem, we’re seeing use cases popping up more and more. Beyond Bank and P&N Bank are both already offering open banking-powered financial well-being tools to their customers and fintechs like WeMoney, Finder and Greener are all starting to use Open Banking.” .
The spokesperson said in 2023 two groups in particular would drive consumer uptake: banks and broker groups.
“Banks are finishing up their data holder projects and are looking for a return on investment by ingesting open banking data, while broker groups see the enormous potential to save time and money in their workflows.”
Frollo CEO Tony Thrassis (pictured above left) said the trusted adviser model had the most potential to drive open banking adoption in Australia.
“We’re excited to be the first to integrate this new CDR (consumer data right) model into a significant and meaningful customer journey for one of Australia’s largest mortgage broker groups,” Thrassis said.
Finsure CEO Simon Bednar (pictured above centre) said he was excited about the benefits of open banking.
“Open banking solves the problem of data inconsistency and provides transparency across the entire applicant lifecycle. It allows Finsure to build into our CRM platform comprehensive data insight models, which will help brokers make more informed decisions,” Bednar said.
“The partnership between Finsure, Frollo and NextGen is the first example of how an end-to-end integrated solution can bring significant benefits to brokers and consumers. By directly integrating the Financial Passport in the existing broker workflow in NextGen’s ApplyOnline platform, brokers can easily take advantage of the feature to streamline the mortgage application process for them and their customers.”
NextGen announced in December that Finsure brokers would be the first in Australia to access open banking and become trusted advisers under the government-regulated CDR.
NextGen chief customer officer Tony Carn (pictured above right) said NextGen saw the opportunity to streamline the mortgage application process with open banking data when it acquired Frollo two years ago.
“Since then, we have worked closely with the Frollo team to build a solution that helps brokers and lenders save time and deliver more value to their customers,” Carn said.
“We’re launching the open banking-powered Financial Passport, with Finsure as our initial launch partner. As a leading mortgage aggregator and a true innovator, they bring the scale and expertise to make this a success. All mortgage brokers will have access to this solution when using NextGen’s ApplyOnline software, so as lenders start to accept open banking data, we are very excited about the opportunities ahead.”
Meantime, back in August, Finsure joined forces with home insurance provider Honey in a deal which the aggregator says will provide plenty of value for its broker network.
Bednar said the partnership had been a game changer for both parties with the volume of insurance referrals from Finsure brokers exceeding expectations.
“In the last four months the exclusive partnership between Finsure and Honey Insurance has resulted in a record take-up with broker accreditations and has been a big winner with their customers,” Bednar said.
“We’ve seen nearly one in two customers progress to a completed policy once they have been provided with a quote from Honey, whilst broker registrations continue to grow with more than 30% of our network registered with Honey already.”
A study conducted by Frollo in May last year found only half of Australians trust their banks.
Frollo surveyed 1,066 Australians of different sexes, ages, and locations about their financial data and the things they found important when sharing their information and who they trusted with it. The report found the level of trust consumers felt with brokers and financial advisers was sitting at 34%.
