ANZ will continue to sell home loans directly

ANZ chief executive Antonia Watson says she cannot see a day when the bank relies entirely on advisers for home loan origination.

“I can't (see that happening), because we've still got a bunch of smiling people in our branches and our mobile mortgage managers that will always be an important part of our business, just as advisers will always be an important part of our business.

A number of commentators have recently suggested banks will become manufacturers of home loans and outsource their mortgage distribution.

Watson says she understands why customers sometimes choose advisers; “things are getting more and more complicated, I guess, and they're looking at someone who might shop around for them. Kiwis are a little averse to doing that for themselves.

“It's understandable, which is why it's an important channel for us, and we've still got all our own home lenders, a bunch of them, who are fantastic and do a great job for our customers.

“We're a large bank, and we are present in communities all around the country, and we want to be able to offer a full service in those communities, and that includes being able to put our customers into home loans if they wander into a branch, or if they make an appointment or whatever that is.”

How to fix CCCFA? Ask me

On the regulatory front Watson would like to see the new government address changes to the CCCFA regulations rather than CoFI.

She says CCCFA is unwieldy, and it's certainly "slowed things down.”

“The penalty regime within the CCCFA just doesn't have a distinction on the egregiousness of the act,” she says.

“So, a tiny disclosure item could result in an uninsurable penalty for directors and officers, or a refund of cost of borrowing, or things that just don't really make sense, and there's no clarity on the level of enforcement penalty there might be.”

When asked how difficult it would be to tidy up CCCFA she said; “Well, if someone came along and asked me what they'd like done, I'd be pretty happy to share that with them.”

While some changes can easily be made by regulation, she admits other changes require legislative action and that may be harder.

"I would acknowledge that some of (the changes are) within legislation, so it might not be the first cab off the rank."