Boutique aggregator National Lending Group has launched its strategic alliance program between brokers and accountants, following an 18-month “proof of concept” pilot campaign.
The Accountant-Broker Collaboration Program was designed specifically for brokers and has been developed to meet the increasing requirement of accountants’ clients seeking funding for personal and/or business purposes.
“NLG’s vision is to be recognised as the leading provider of finance and broking services to accountants and the preferred boutique aggregator to brokers in Australia,” said NLG partnerships director Steve Lake (pictured above). “The official launch of the program is a significant milestone towards achieving this goal.”
Lake said this opportunity allowed brokers and accountants to maximise the program for both entities.
“It does not limit the number of relationships brokers have and they can become part of an accounting firm either as an employee or contractor,” he said. “We take brokers through the journey so they have the tools to be able to cater for accountants and clients such as improving processes, understanding financials and companies structures through to becoming finance experts.”
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Lake said the program had partnership options that provided brokers and accountants with various degrees of risk versus reward.
“The first option is to partner with an accountant via a reciprocal relationship model to facilitate client funding requirements,” he said. “Alternatively, accountants may elect to appoint an in-house, commission-only broker as a contractor. To date, this has been the preferred model because it’s an extremely cost-effective and flexible strategy that extends the firm’s service proposition and diversifies revenue without resource or accreditation constraints which includes the time, stress or expense of hiring a loan writer directly.”
Lake said the program would benefit brokers as it was about attracting more business into their brokerages.
“We find through this platform it will allow brokers to build a tribe of followers that like working with them and can become more efficient and better than ever,” he said. “It also provides the opportunity for brokers to build relationships between them and an accountant. This is a great way to build a connection with an accountant through increasing revenue and facilitate business growth by diversifying distribution and revenue streams.”
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Lake said the program was a bespoke initiative that benefits all stakeholders.
“It materially extends broker’s and accountant’s service proposition, supercharges referrals and boosts lead generation. It also enables both professions to provide a more holistic offering and deliver exceptional client outcomes,” he said. “Having the ability to formally collaborate with accountants to facilitate residential or commercial finance represents a tremendous opportunity to better service clients.”
NLG will consider accounting firms of all areas of expertise and locations nationwide for the program and all NLG brokers can join the program at no additional charge.
