Banking Review

Mortgage Choice chief would welcome “Postbank” home loans

Mortgage Choice chief executive officer Michael Russell says he would welcome Australia Post into the broking community, should Ahmed Fahour decide to pursue a mortgage distribution strategy.

And, he says, “If they went with a white label product, we would sell it”.

Russell was commenting on rumours Australia Post is considering expanding its financial services offering, and a proposal put forward by economist Christopher Joye that Post consider white labelling a mortgage product and/or acting as a mortgage broker for second tier and non-bank lenders.

Russell told Retail Banking Review “From my perspective any substantial branded player that wants to enter mortgages is a good thing because it just heightens the whole mortgage broking proposition…The more we can get the message out to consumers that brokers offer consumers what bank branches can never offer, the better”.

But, he says, although Australia Post has a strong brand, “I’m not sure how attached a customer of Australia Post is to the brand, or whether they use it just for convenience”.

In “Checks in the mail” we explore whether Australia needs a Postbank, and if so, what it might look like. It’s the first of a three part series where we plan to explore how a Postbank might evolve, the technology a start-up would choose for a Greenfield bank, and the dream team Fahour might put in place to execute his strategy.

What do you think?

Is Australia Post ideally placed to start a bank from scratch, and if so, what technology could it deploy to give it an advantage over competitors?

Who would you nominate to run Postbank, and why?