Auckland: BNZ Adds 12 New Mobile Mortgage Managers

Bank of New Zealand Adds 12 New Mobile Mortgage Managers in Reorganisation of Auckland Operations

Bank of New Zealand has completed a major reorganisation and streamlining of its mobile mortgage operations in Auckland, including the addition of frontline staff and a reorganisation of territory. The new staff bring the number of Bank of New Zealand mobile mortgage managers (MMMs) in Auckland to 36.

Under the reorganisation, Bank of New Zealand has appointed 12 additional MMMs, added a new area manager to manage the MMM team in Auckland’s northern suburbs, appointed six support staff to back the new MMMs, and relocated some MMMs to ensure an even distribution of MMMs in the Auckland market.

Bank of New Zealand’s national head of MMMs, Gary Ashton, said that, in part, the reorganisation of MMMs was intended to accommodate the slowdown in the Auckland housing market.

“It makes sense to increase our coverage of Auckland as the property market there begins to cool off,” Mr Ashton said. “Business is going to be a little harder come by in the immediate future, so we’ll have more people working in the market.”

However, Mr Ashton said the main reason for the reorganisation was to improve service to customers.

“The secret to being a successful MMM is to provide first-class service. We have expanded the number of MMMs we have working in Auckland, and we have also increased the support staff who are working with those MMMs. The aim is to further improve our high standards of service, and to provide better support for MMMs in serving their customers.”

Mr Ashton said the decision to increase the number of Bank of New Zealand MMMs in Auckland underlined Bank of New Zealand’s decision to sell its home loans directly and exclusively. Bank of New Zealand will not allow a third party – including mortgage brokers – to sell its home loans.

Bank of New Zealand stopped mortgage brokers from selling its home loans in early 2003. The bank has recently affirmed its decision not to use brokers and ran an advertising campaign to differentiate its position from other banks, which sell home loans through brokers.

“The only way we can give customers the high standards of service we think they should enjoy is to sell our home loans directly. We can’t guarantee customers will enjoy the standards of service we expect if someone else is selling home loans on our behalf.”

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