National Bank is widely viewed as having been put up for sale by its British parent Lloyds TSB and its fate has obvious implications for mortgage brokers.
"We would rather not see it sold," says Mortgage Brokers Association chairman Brian Berry. "If that’s not an option, we would prefer that it go to someone who doesn’t already have an extensive branch network," he says.
ANZ Bank, Commonwealth Bank of Australia-owned ASB Bank, Westpac and HSBC have all been touted as potential purchasers, although ANZ said last week it was the least likely buyer.
Foreign exchange dealers have reported that Lloyds has suddenly become an active player in the New Zealand dollar market after previously leaving this market for the past 10 years to its New Zealand subsidiary.
"Speaking to some of our members, the general feeling is that we would rather see the choice of mainstream lenders remain the same in number," Berry says.
"You also wonder how unweildly a very large market player would be as far as systems and service standards are concerned."
Carey Brunel at Mortgage People (formerly Property Pack) is also concerned about a possible reduction in choice.
"We’re only able to offer what the market provides," he says, noting that his company began with support from only two lenders. Nevertheless, those lenders had offered extremely competitive products.
Roger Poulter of Mortgage Link says the best brokers can hope for is that whoever buys National "continues to support brokers as National has done very diligently."
Miranda Caird at Mortgage Choice is concerned that National changing hands will be unsettling for her clients who have mortgages with National.
"They’ve all got different cultures. When two different cultures come together, it’s always unsettling – they all have their teething problems," and the loser is always the customer, she says.
"It’s never a good look if you’ve put a customer into National Bank and then they don’t like the bank’s change of direction."
Like Berry, Paul Bright at Loan Plan would like to see choice preserved.
"National Bank has quite a good place in the market because it’s one of only two retail banks that don’t use reinsurers. It’s good in some areas of lending because of that because they can make their own decisions without have to get a second approval from a reinsurer."
Bright says National is also a good bank for businesses. "I wouldn’t want to see any of that change under new ownership."
