anyone dealt with ASB Bank

[spankmeister]

I have been with ASB since 1987, haven't been into a branch since they started internet banking. They are great to deal with, and hassle free.

Cheers
Mike

[Kristine]

Ohhh cool. I will check out Bank Direct. Thanks for that.

[Monid]

And given that Kiwi Bank's cheapest home loan guareentee specifically rules out comparision to internet based banks (ie Bank Direct) they obviously have pretty sharp rates...

David

[Vern]

Kristine

As an alternative to ASB, but the same, why don't you try BankDirect (same outfit but Roland Gift rather than Ira Goldstein - and Roland Gift has a place in NZ too !!).

I have used them a couple of times and they seem pretty easy to deal with - no branches - simply email and phone and low stress. Can't comment on ASB though.

Cheers

[Monid]

Which is of course why the BNZ has stopped dealing with brokers altogether, and why people question whether they ought to be able to offer their services as 'free'. Personally I am sceptical about the independence of some brokers and would love to know whether all banks offer the same incentive for new customers, if not who offers more?

Cheers David

[Kristine]

Donna i did get her from this site and funny how she put us both onto the same bank sometimes it worries me with brokers i wonder if some banks offer them more $$$ then others mmmmmmm

[muppet]

Hi Guys

The popularity of the ASB is all due to Ira Goldstein., read on.

ASB on the up thanks to Ira Goldstein

SATURDAY , 21 FEBRUARY 2004


ASB is one of the country's fastest-growing banks thanks to an innovative advertising campaign featuring a New Yorker and a career banker. Waikato Times business editor Mary Anne Gill talks to Hugh Burrett about Ira Goldstein and his career.

The pin-stripe suit gives Hugh Burrett away immediately.

Here is a banker, it cries out.

Not just any banker though. ASB Bank's managing director has been with the one employer, in an industry where changing jobs regularly is almost the norm, for more than 40 years.

And he says he's just as enthusiastic today as he was on February 15, 1960, when he started with the Auckland Savings Bank as a teenager.

Burrett, 60, was in Hamilton this week to brief staff and clients on the bank's financial results and plans for the future. Last week the bank reported a tax-paid, unaudited profit of $159.8 million for the six months to December 31, up $27.5 million on the back of increased lending. Home and personal lending increased 15 per cent to $17.9 billion. Rural lending was up 10 per cent to $2.7 billion and total business lending gained 3 per cent to $9.4 billion.

A third of ASB's rural lending is in the Waikato while its business lending in the region is above the bank's overall market share of 10 per cent.

The bank's total assets stood at $30.4 billion, up 10 per cent since June 30 making it the country's fourth largest bank.

Burrett says the bank finally passed ANZ Bank only to see it go past them again with the ANZ's purchase last year of the National Bank.

ASB is now wholly-owned by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

CBA paid $242 million for a 75 per cent share in ASB in 1988 and last year forked out another $550 million for the remaining 25 per cent.

ASB Bank continues to rate well with customers. For several consecutive years it has held the top spot for customers services in a nationwide survey conducted by Auckland University.

The Auckland Savings Bank began life in 1847 on Queen St. The first president was Governor George Grey.

The bank was managed by a board of trustees, appointed by the government, until deregulation of the banking industry in the 1980s.

Burrett succeeded Ralph Norris as managing director in June 2001 when Norris moved to Air New Zealand.

Getting the top job after so long with the company was not a surprise to those within the bank. Burrett had played a crucial role in the development of online banking and strategy.

For seven years from 1967 he helped set up the bank's computer system. "We went online in real-time in 1969 and we led the way in ATMs (automatic teller machines) and electronic transfers throughout the 1970s and 1980s."

In the early 1970s the bank had an IBM 360-30 with 32KB of memory which took up plenty of space in the Auckland head office. Today there's that much memory in a light switch, says Burrett. The bank has more than 30,000 internet customers doing 1.7 million transactions on line a month.

After his stint in technology, Burrett returned to mainstream banking in 1974 and was involved in helping the ASB Bank through the 1980s when banking was restructured by a government act.

Many of the savings banks, including Waikato Savings Bank, were renamed trust banks. Sales of the shares were vested in community trusts.

Auckland and Taranaki Savings Banks decided to opt out to become separate entities. In 1987 Auckland Savings Bank was renamed ASB Bank.

Burrett says the decision to leave the other trust banks was the right one.

"We had a very good brand and an exceptional computer business."

The decision was made to expand from its Auckland base even though within the bank itself there were doubts heartland New Zealand would accept an Auckland bank.

The first step to national coverage was made in 1991 with the opening of a Hamilton branch.

New branches subsequently opened in Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin, Tauranga, Napier, Hastings and Palmerston North.

In 1994 ASB Bank began operating on a national basis when it amalgamated with its wholly owned subsidiary, Westland Bank.

Just last week a branch was opened at Waikato University to target the competitive tertiary market.

Today ASB Bank may be an Australian-owned one but it is run by an independent board with local representation. CBA chief executive David Murray is on record as saying ASB Bank is a success story other Australian banks would do well to emulate.

Customer service is paramount, says Burrett.

From its early days ASB has been innovative with its publicity and advertising campaigns.

Its sponsorship of Kashin the elephant at Auckland Zoo lasted years and a generation of youngsters grew up saving in a Kashin moneybox. Advertising featured Kashin with a knot in his trunk to remind him about school banking day.

In more recent years the bank's profile locally was lifted with an advertising campaign featuring Ira Goldstein, on a mission from New York to check out ASB Bank. The campaign was the brainchild of Auckland advertising agency Whybin TBWA Burrett says when the account was being pitched, Whybin came back to them and said they'd done research and discovered that customer service and an understanding for customer needs was what made the bank different.

"They said to us 'we've got to build a story about this'."

Ira, played by American actor Stephen Mellor, was an immediate success, meeting with unprecedented popularity among customers, staff and the public in general.

Mellor, whose main claim to fame before the ads was his role as Wyatt in the 1993 movie Sleepless in Seattle, is mobbed when he's in New Zealand filming.

Since then he's had a walk-in part on the hit TV series The Sopranos.

Whybin TBWA chief executive David Walden says the campaign is a success because of the bank.

"Ira is a messenger – he's not the story."

Research showed that the 'Ira Campaign' helped to lift awareness of both the bank and its products and services.

Burrett says Ira will feature in ads for years to come. The bank's growth while the ads have run shows how successful they've been, he says.

Walden is giving nothing away about storyline other than to neither confirm nor deny that Ira's boss may be coming to New Zealand.

Burrett says the ad can run for years.

"As long as we can keep it fresh, there's no reason why not."

It's one of the reasons Burrett himself wants to stay at the bank when many of his peers would be thinking of retirement.

"I love it (banking) because it has been changing. It's that change and the excitement I like."

Regards

[donna]

Kristine - how did you get to Alison Scoble of Mortgage Link?

I ask because she is the person I use regularly, and we listed her in the Profesional Listings on this site . We did go thru her and with the ASB on 75% for the first property but quickly revalued and raised the mortgage to 80% of valuation. All other properties on ASB loans are also 80% of purchase price initially then 80% of valuation.

I have found the ASB to be very helpful (esp. living outside of NZ). The comments all of you have made are very enlightening and thanks for starting the thread Kristine.


Cheers,

Donna

[RentMaster]

A good mortgage Broker is a handy asset to have in your team,
Regards
Steven

Do you think so Steven (MobileMortgage)?

[MobileMortgage]

But I have found that I can secure a better mortgage deal with a mortgage broker. They seem to have better negotiating powers.

Fully agree rentmaster,
A good mortgage Broker is a handy asset to have in your team,
Regards
Steven

[orion]

please tell me what branches you all dealt with??

Hastings, Napier and Palmerston North.

Regards
Graeme Fowler

[RentMaster]

Although my account is with the Avondale/Auckland branch, I do most things over the internet. There is not much need to visit a branch. They also have mobile lending managers.

But I have found that I can secure a better mortgage deal with a mortgage broker. They seem to have better negotiating powers.

[Kristine]

please tell me what branches you all dealt with??

[lissie]

I comunicate via email, know the loans manager by her first name

its a NZ thing - I might call the PM Miss Clark and the CEO of National Bank Sir John (not that I've met either of then!) but apart from that I dont recall the last time I called anyone in busines by anythjing but their 1st name!

[Fran]

We have only been dealing with ASB bank since Nov last year from off shore and find them to be very helpful. I comunicate via email, know the loans manager by her first name and so far she has done every thing possible to ensure the loans on our four IP properties are going smoothly