Glen McLeod of Edge Mortgages, said his firm had been contracted by the bank as a broker. “We can work with them without having to charge the customer.”
He said the bank had made it clear it wanted to work only with a small group of advisers. “It’s exciting to be at the forefront of that. I don’t believe they will open it up fully to the market, it’s a volume thing. They might bring more on in future but it could be a way away.”
He said it was exciting to be able to work with Kiwibank for clients but the bank was a long way from offering the scale to advisers that banks such as ANZ and Westpac did.
Kiwibank spokesman Bruce Thompson said: “Kiwibank has for some time been running a pilot with a small number of mortgage brokers. This activity continues, albeit on a small scale and does not signal a change in direction to cater to the wider mortgage broker market.”
Kiwibank also has a network of mobile mortgage managers in the market.
Thompson would not reveal the remuneration structure on offer for brokers but it is believed to be the same as BNZ's, 0.45% upfront and 0.15% trail.
There are believed to be 12 brokers signed up so far.
