ING caps off stellar year with self-employed lending gambit

ING worked with brokers to help design these policy updates. “We got a group of brokers together to discuss opportunities on how we can help them do more business, become more efficient in their business, and how ING can really support the industry with that,” explained Delvescovo.

He continued: “We want brokers to feel confident recommending ING as a genuine alternative and we want them to see that this new policy reflects the feedback that they have given us over the past few years.

“Although this is a segment we haven’t actively played in for 7–8 years, we’ve taken the time to understand what’s needed, and the result is a policy that positions ING as a genuine alternative for self-employed Australians.

“This is the beginning of a journey for us in residential lending for the SME segment. Having seen how important this market is through our commercial and business banking arm, we’re now bringing that focus into our home loan offering. Over the past 12–18 months, only a small percentage of brokers have submitted self-employed applications with ING, and we’re looking forward to changing that.”

ING will be competing with an extensive cohort of alternative lenders – including the likes of RedZed and Pepper Money – that have made substantial headway into the self-employed lending space.