ING DIRECT plans to rapidly grow its existing commercial business after committing to a strong refocus on commercial lending through the broker channel.
At its recent Broker Roadshow in Sydney, the bank’s CEO, Don Koch, said he’s keen to double the bank’s existing portfolio in the next three years.
Mark Woolnough, Head of Broker Distribution at ING DIRECT said “ING DIRECT is well known for having a competitive residential loan offering, but many brokers may not know that since 2003 we have also offered commercial lending products through the broker channel that are particularly easy for brokers to immediately diversify into”.
“Brokers only need the one accreditation with ING DIRECT to sell both residential and commercial loans, and we utilise the same application form and serviceability calculator as residential lending. So brokers who already deal with ING DIRECT will see similarities in the process.”
Identifying what he believes to be a ‘sweet spot’ in the market, Woolnough states that “Commercial lending in the $250k – $2 million loan bracket is where a lot of opportunity lies.”
“Many brokers don’t realise the commercial possibilities which may exist within their own portfolio and it may be as simple as looking at existing borrowers who are also business owners looking to expand, for example.”
Woolnough says its commercial offer fits within the bank’s broader philosophy of simplicity and fairness to both brokers and customers. Their commercial offering is generally ‘set and forget’ with no annual reviews for loans under $2 million dollars that are performing well.
“This offers a certainty to customers as we know that when some of our competitors review commercial mortgages, it may result in changes to the loan such as the structure, fees and interest rate” he said “As a result, many small business customers may not currently be getting a fair deal on commercial property loans.”
Currently, ING DIRECT is offering a promotion where the application fee on commercial loans has been reduced to a flat fee of $500 down from 0.25% of the total loan amount resulting in a significant saving for our commercial customers. So, on a $1 mil commercial loan that saves the customer $2000.
Media contact:
Caroline Thomas
PR Manager, ING DIRECT
+61 2 9018 5160
+61 413 317 225
caroline.thomas@ingdirect.com.au
About ING DIRECT
ING DIRECT pioneered branchless banking in Australia by offering the first online, high interest, fee free savings account. Our low cost operating model allows us to pass these savings on to the customer in the form of great value products and services. Today, ING DIRECT has more than 1.4 million customers with $26 billion in deposits and $38 billion in mortgages and a range of innovative banking products.
Please note ING DIRECT is never abbreviated to ING.