Bright days are ahead for the mortgage broking industry despite a difficult credit market and increased regulation, Bankwest's Ian Rakhit has said.

Rakhit, the bank's head of specialist lending, told Australian BrokerNews that in spite of low credit demand and increasing bank market share, he believes the mortgage broking industry still has "a very bright future". This bright future, Rakhit believes, comes from consumer empowerment. Rather than acting as a competitor to brokers, Rakhit said the growing consumer trend of researching mortgage products online could benefit brokers by making consumers more aware of the product choice offered by brokers.

"Customers understand they have choice, and they understand brokers can work at their convenience, not at the bank's convenience. Convenience and choice is exactly what will keep broking alive and growing and attracting new talent," he commented.

Rakhit said he believes empowered consumers will be less likely to seek out direct bank channels, and more likely to avail themselves of the range of choices offered by mortgage brokers.

"Customer behaviour is changing. When I joined banking 26 years ago, when a customer wanted a loan they went to the bank they and their parents went to, put on their finest clothes and they almost pleaded for a loan. There's now a lot less loyalty to their bank and the bank of their parents," he remarked.

In order to capitalise on this changing consumer behaviour, Rakhit said the mortgage broking industry will need to lift its public profile. He conceded that banks have an advantage in marketing themselves to consumers, but said the mortgage broking sector needs to proactively make consumers aware of the benefits it offers.

"The budgets of banks and the budgets of brokers are completely different, so banks will always have the edge. But, there's always more we can do to educate the customer on the advantages brokers have," Rakhit commented.