BDM in the spotlight: Justin Cross

This ANZ BDM for Christchurch has been with the bank for almost 30 years.

ANZ BDM for Christchurch, Justin Cross has spent 29 years with ANZ and 20 years exclusively with the mortgage adviser industry.

BDM in the spotlight asks a different BDM the same seven questions – giving you a weekly insight into the lives of some of the top BDM’s in the country.

How often do you see brokers in a week:
I cover a large geographical area (South Island) and as such I am on the road quite a bit conducting face-to-face meetings with advisers. On average I would meet with 15-20 advisers per week.

What do brokers want most from you:
This is a relationship role so most importantly advisers want a BDM to be personable, responsive and knowledgeable.  Adviser queries can be quite varied and are largely driven by the experience level of the adviser involved. I receive a high number of credit policy and process questions combined with query ‘escalation’ requests. Advisers require BDMs to be solutions-driven. Accordingly, I am involved in a lot of ‘best practice’ discussions to assist advisers create win/win outcomes for their customers. BDMs are also expected to be well connected across a variety of businesses of the bank.

What is your favourite part of the job:
Residential property lending is a highly rewarding area of the bank to be involved with. In particular, I enjoy working with advisers to help their customers realise their dreams of home ownership. I also enjoy building relationships with advisers and watching them develop and grow successful businesses. 

What distinguishes the best brokers you deal with:
A strong desire to succeed combined with providing superior customer service to their customers. Successful advisers have strong communication skills, a range of  networks and referral sources and excel at relationship building with suppliers and influencers. From my experience, advisers who have well thought-out business plans and a strong understanding of process management are best placed to expand their businesses quickly.

Describe your ideal weekend:
Preferably sleeping in late one morning! Going out for a meal and a movie with family, and taking the Holden Maloo out for a run with the wife for a coffee on a Sunday.

What’s the strangest lending scenario you've ever encountered:
A home loan application for a customer who (apparently) had tens of millions of dollars invested in a Ukraine bank. A copy of bank statements from the Ukraine Bank were provided to support the term deposit funds and the amount of interest being generated from this investment. However, through the course of our assessment it turned out all of the statements provided were completely fictitious. Needless to say, the lending wasn’t approved!

How do you like your steak done
Large, medium rare and cooked for me. Throw in some garlic butter and coleslaw.

NZ Adviser will regularly feature a different BDM from across New Zealand. If you’d like to be included, please email us.