NAB has said its decision to ditch its Homeside branding will help brokers better leverage off the strenght of the bank's brand.
The lender announced yesterday it would be doing away with the Homeside brand in favour of bringing its broker-exclusive products under the NAB brand.
Anthony Waldron, the bank's executive general manager of growth partnerships, said the rebrand would make the lender's products an easier sell for brokers.
"This is about making it easier for the proposition to be understood. Brokers have long understood the benefits of Homeside - the products, the price and service have all been there. Those won't change. The goal is simply to make it easier for brokers to sell these products under the iconic brand of NAB," Waldron said.
General manager of broker distribution Steve Kane said the rebrand would not change the bank's product offering to brokers.
"All facets of the offering into the marketplace for brokers will remain exactly as they are today, and that extends to our price for risk strategy and LVR pricing, and it extends to our relationships with [brokers]. Nothing changes other than the rebranding of the products," he said.
Kane also confirme that the bank would continue to offer its Red Star products.
Kane said the bank had "inherited" the Homeside brand in its acquisition of BNZ, and had been unable to leverage off the brand with the "iconic household name of NAB".
"We've been taking a lot of feedback from brokers over the last little while. Certainly, in the sales process when the mortgage broker sits down with the customer, even though it's Homeside powered by NAB and even though everyone understands that Homeside is a subsidiary brand of NAB, the customer still had to ask questions of the broker like, 'Who is Homeside actually, and what does that mean for me?' One of the key findings we had is that it would be much simpler if it was a NAB brand that brokers were dealing with for their customers," Kane said.
Kane also pointed to trends in the mainstream press of stories questioning bank subsidiary brands and the clarity of branding and ownership for consumers.
"This clarifies that position. The customer knows they're dealing with NAB."
