Yellow Brick Road’s national store front presence will be increased in June, as Resi Mortgage Corporation branches will formally begin a visible transition into Yellow Brick Road next week.
YBR executive chairman
Mark Bouris says the merge makes sense as both businesses are underpinned by a desire to provide a genuine non-bank alternative to the everyday Australian.
“In the coming financial year, Yellow Brick Road has plenty in the pipeline. We’re going to up our marketing spend and we want the network, including our 19 new branches, to be able to leverage as much of that exposure as possible,” he said.
“Resi franchise owners have agreed to operate under the Yellow Brick Road brand which allows them to capitalise on our nationwide marketing and lead generating activities – television campaigns through to grassroots activations - planned for July onwards.”
“Resi has a great reputation built up over almost 30 years – many of the business owners have served their local communities for more than a decade. That trust and local recognition combined with Yellow Brick Road’s national brand awareness is a powerful combination.”
Resi branches will now be able to provide their clients a larger variety of financial products and services with the addition of the financial advice side of the YBR business, says Bouris.
In addition, YBR will benefit from the mortgage product originator arm included in the Resi acquisition. Resi mortgage products will continue to be available to the transitioning Resi branches, as well as extended to the Vow brokers and the broader YBR branch network.
“Resi ’s strength as a national retailer of mortgage products is a real asset. It will allow us to create products for parts of the market not well-serviced by the banks,” Bouris said.
Chris Christie, manager at Resi ’s leading and longest serving franchise, Resi St George – which is to become Yellow Brick Road Rockdale – says the choice to migrate to YBR was a difficult, however he sees many benefits in combining forces.
“There are a couple of key benefits that will occur by transitioning to the Yellow Brick Road brand. The first has to do with growth and scale. The size of Yellow Brick Road through the existing branch network and also the acquisition of Vow, allows the organisation to be able to compete as a major player in the market,” he said.
“The second is the ability to offer our clients holistic financial advice and a full suite of financial services – not just a home loan.”
Christie says his clients’ reactions have been extremely positive so far.
“Over the last month we have spoken to numerous clients about the impending rebranding. The reaction has been extremely positive, particular when we have explained the benefits of being part of a large, nationwide organisation.
“Our clients have comfort that their dedicated wealth manager will continue to offer them the same personalised service that they have come to expect.”
The rebrand rollout will see Resi offices displaying Yellow Brick Road branding alongside their existing Resi branding with the view to be fully branded as Yellow Brick Road in coming months.
In NSW, six Resi operators in Belmore, Beverly Hills, Rockdale, Sutherland, Toongabbie and Glenfield in Sydney will transition from next week.
In VIC, offices will now exist in Melbourne West, Mount Waverley, Lilydale, Werribee and Mordialloc as well as plans for a branch in the Whittlesea area in the near future.
Spring Hill, Kenmore and Morayfield will be the Brisbane based branches to transition as well as Curtin (ACT), Mount Barker (SA), and Midland and Morley in Western Australia.
The vast majority of revenue contributing Resi branches will either be a part of the rebranding programme or have chosen to join an existing Yellow Brick Road branches.
Resi was a privately-owned mortgage manager and originally launched in the 1980s. Yellow Brick Road acquired Resi and its $1.8 billion loan book for $36 million in August 2014.
