Virgin Money has announced a partnership with national mortgage aggregator Connective. Starting from November this year, accredited brokers across the network will be able to offer Virgin Money home loans to clients.
Johnny Lockwood, the general manager of lending, cards & deposits for Virgin Money, said that the differentiated products could benefit both brokers and consumers alike.
“We see that our ongoing treatment of customers is very important for our broker partners as well,” he told Australian Broker. “We want to make sure there is a rewarding and ongoing experience for the customer so they are happy with the decision that the broker has assisted them to make and actually give them some repeat business.”
As for the engagement between the aggregators, brokers and Virgin Money, Lockwood said his firm was a true ‘partnership business’.
“For us putting the focus of our mortgage distribution into the third party market really gives brokers the confidence that they are going to be a very strong focus for us now and continually into the future.”
This means that Virgin Money won’t lose sight on the broker channel even once the firm does get a direct channel up, Lockwood assured.
To this end, the lender was expanding its BDM team into Queensland and Western Australia to support brokers on the ground, he said.
Currently, Virgin Money has two BDMs in NSW and one in Victoria with plans to further expand this footprint later on.
“It’s key for us that our aggregator partners such as Connective have people they can talk to face-to-face when they need to.”
He said a key focus was to support customers through a nationwide network of brokers that expanded beyond just the Eastern Seaboard.
Finally, Virgin would work together with the Connective network and their focus on digital marketing support for brokers through various activities and training days, he said.
“Virgin Money is traditionally a direct digital business and we have a lot of expertise in the digital marketing front. That’s certainly something that we can assist our partner brokers with at various times throughout the year to enable them to get the best out of their customer network as well.”
Glenn Lees, CEO of Connective, welcomed the partnership and what it could bring to their network of brokers.
“We’ve been really impressed with Virgin Money’s innovative and collaborative approach and their commitment to providing our members and their customers with a strongly differentiated product offering. It’s great that our members will now be able to harness the power of the incredibly strong Virgin brand.”
