iscover
Just this week, ANZ announced it would be cutting 3,500 jobs “to better focus on priorities”, while NAB said it was cutting 410 roles in a bid to remove duplication and simplify team structures.
This follows similar headlines back in May when Westpac and CBA announced they would be culling 1,500 jobs and 163 jobs, respectively.
While reasons for the job cuts are mixed, many are spurred by the advancement of AI. Customer service is an area that has been rife with job cuts following these innovations.
Business development managers (BDMs) could be the next roles that are swallowed by AI adoption, as they’re partly customer service representatives for brokers.
Broker Daily reached out to each of the big four banks for comment on this topic but received no response.
Is AI the future of the majors' BDMs?
Speaking with Broker Daily, LoanOptions.ai’s founder and CEO, Julian Fayad, believes there could very well be a future where BDMs at the big four are replaced by AI.
He believes many of the basic challenges that are raised by brokers could be handled by AI. AI BDMs are “infinitely scalable” and quick to respond. The more complex scenarios are where BDMs thrive.
“Having people spend 30 minutes in traffic in between meetings, from the bank’s perspective, it’s not the best use of their time. They can do this digitally."
Fayad said that many brokers struggle with slow responses from BDMs – a challenge that could be overcome through AI.
While this certainly doesn’t apply to all BDMs, and some are far more responsive than others, the brokers who struggle with these issues let deals pass by as they cannot access timely support.
Fayad believes brokers would be receptive to an AI BDM. While it may not be suitable for more complex issues, quick support on more traditional queries would be welcome.
“If you ask a lot of brokers, BDMs don’t always pick up the phone. And it’s because of the way their role’s structured. It’s like they’re incentivised by the bank to do as many meetings and bring on as much business as they possibly can,” said Fayad.
“[Some BDMs] call you back but it’ll be two days later and the deal’s already gone somewhere else.”
Sheng Ye, mortgage broker at Home Loan Experts, enjoys the connection he has with his BDM, but said the human element can either make or break a deal.
He said that without a BDM, he’s afraid the support would become “cold and distant”.
“I don’t think AI should replace the BDM’s role; however, AI could assist human BDMs in answering brokers’ policy questions and free humans from needing to search databases. AI would make it easier for human BDMs to answer a broker’s queries,” said Ye.
Fellow Home Loan Experts broker Jonathan Preston doesn’t see AI replacing BDMs in the near term.
The complexity of queries and the need for tailored support will keep the proposition unchanged for the time being.
“An AI-powered BDM sounds like a nightmare at this stage,” Preston said.
“There will always be a need for a point where you can escalate past the chatbot. We are in a highly regulated industry, people have their most expensive assets at risk, they are at risk of lawsuits and formal complaints. Sometimes, a chatbot is not what you are looking for in the heat of the moment.”
The future instead will be more BDMs leveraging AI to drive efficiency. Preston said the “deskbound” BDMs who aren’t engaged with their brokers are most at risk of being “automated out”.
Brokers and BDMs have an almost symbiotic relationship. As discussed earlier in the year by Broker Daily, brokers value a communicative, responsive, and knowledgeable BDM.
Those who uphold these core values are best equipped to tackle the AI revolution perpetuated by the major banks.
[Related: What makes a good broker-BDM relationship?]
