Blake Albones has been named as the Head of Home Lending Distribution at MyState Bank. The industry veteran joins from NAB, where he had been head of broker in Victoria and Tasmania.
Albones will start with the goal of increasing MyState’s presence in Victoria and New South Wales, adding to their long-standing offering in their home state of Tasmania. It is their second major appointment of late, following on the back of Huw Bough, who became General Manager Banking last month.
“It’s exciting, very very exciting,” Albones told Australian Broker. “I relate to the brand: having been in the industry for more than 20 years, MyState has always been a trusted and respected brand, especially in the Tasmanian market. It’s a huge opportunity to grow that presence here on the mainland.”
“My background over the last twenty years has taken in my roles, across operations, aggregation and then heading up NAB in the Victorian market. I know brokers inside out and, in my last role as CEO at Rate One, it put me on the other side of the fence so I can see and understand the frustrations that brokers go through on a daily basis and even an hourly basis.”
“I’m picking up all those experiences and bringing them to MyState. If we’re going to win the game, we need to play heavily in the market of Victoria and New South Wales, and especially with the brokers.”
His proposition to the channel is simple: keep up the great service, even at increased volume.
“What brokers are looking for are trusted partners that can improve the customer experience,” explained Albones. “You’ve only got to pick up an industry mag and look at the surveys to see that broker service levels are really suffering, especially with the Big Four.”
“MyState has always led the way with turnaround times and we’re sat at two days at the moment. The challenge that is put in front of me is: how do you exponentially grow the service slow without that affecting the turnaround times?”
