DIPMB3_AS_v2 Business Management Skills: CCF & MB Case Study

This document presents a solved written assignment focusing on Business Management Skills, utilizing the Capital City Finance and Mortgage Brokers (CCF & MB) case study. The assignment addresses key areas such as developing client relationships, growing the business, identifying and managing risks, improving business processes, managing people performance, and demonstrating leadership. The solution provides insights into strategic alliances with real estate agents, accountants, and legal firms, as well as consolidating relationships with existing partners. It also covers the company's vision, mission, values, and the roles of its employees. The student's initial attempt is assessed, with feedback provided for improvement in specific tasks related to risk management, people performance, and leadership. Desklib offers this and other solved assignments to aid students in their studies.

Written Assignment
Business Management Skills
(DIPMB3_AS_v2)
Student identification (student to complete)
Please complete the fields shaded grey.
Student number 10292967
Written Assignment result (assessor to complete)
Result — first submission (Details for each activity are shown in the table below)
Not Yet Competent
Parts that must be resubmitted:
3, 5 & 6
Result — resubmission (if applicable)
Result summary (assessor to complete)
First submission Resubmission (if required)
Task 1 Demonstrated Demonstrated
Task 2 Demonstrated Demonstrated
Task 3 Not yet demonstrated Not yet demonstrated
Task 4 Demonstrated Demonstrated
Task 5 Not yet demonstrated Not yet demonstrated
Task 6 Not yet demonstrated Not yet demonstrated
Feedback (assessor to complete)
Fair work for the first attempt and to finalise this assignment, please review the feedback for Tasks 3, 5 & 6
and then resubmit for further assessment.
You might also like to review the feedback for Tasks 1, 2 and 4 as well but you do not have to resubmit
these Tasks.
DIPMB3_AS_v2

Before you begin
Read everything in this document before you start your written assignment for Business Management Skills
(DIPMB3_AS_v2).
About this document
This document includes the following parts:
• Instructions for completing and submitting this assignment
• CCF & MB case study and tasks covering Business Management Skills:
• Task 1 — Developing and nurturing relationships with clients, other professionals and third-party referrers
• Task 2 — Growing the business
• Task 3 — Identifying risk and applying risk management processes
• Task 4— Improving the business
• Task 5 —Managing people performance
• Task 6 — Showing leadership in the workplace
How to use the study plan
We recommend that you use the study plan for this subject to help you manage your time to complete
the assignment within your enrolment period. Your study plan is in the KapLearn Business Management
Skills (DIPMB3v2) subject room.
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Instructions for completing and submitting this written
assignment
Saving your work
Download this document to your desktop, type your answers in the spaces provided and save your work
regularly.
• Use the template provided, as other formats will not be accepted for these assignments.
• Name your file as follows: Studentnumber_SubjectCode_Assignment_versionnumber_Submissionnumber
(e.g. 12345678_DIPMB3_AS_v2_Submission1).
• Include your student ID on the first page of the assignment.
Before you submit your work, please do a spell check and proofread your work to ensure that everything is
clear and unambiguous.
Submitting the written assignment
Only Microsoft Office compatible written assignments submitted in the template file will be accepted for
marking by Kaplan Professional Education. You need to save and submit this entire document.
Do not remove any sections of the document.
Do not save your completed assignment as a PDF.
The written assignment must be completed before submitting it to Kaplan Professional Education.
Incomplete written assignments will be returned to you unmarked.
The maximum file size is 20MB for the Written and Oral Assignment. Once you submit your written
assignment for marking you will be unable to make any further changes to it.
You are able to submit your written assignment earlier than the deadline if you are confident you have
completed all parts and have prepared a quality submission.
Please refer to the Assignment submission/resubmission instructions (pdf) in the Assessment section of
KapLearn for details on how to submit your written assignment.
Your written assignment and oral assignment must be submitted together on or before your due date.
Please check KapLearn for the due date.
The written assignment marking process
You have 12 weeks from the date of your enrolment in this subject to submit your completed assignment.
If you reach the end of your initial enrolment period and have been deemed Not Yet Competent in one or
more assessment items, then an additional 4 weeks will be granted, provided you attempted all assessment
tasks during the initial enrolment period.
Your assessor will mark your written and oral assignment and return it to you in the Business Management
Skills (DIPMB3v2) subject room in KapLearn under the ‘Assessment’ tab.
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Word count
The word count shown with each question is indicative only. You will not be penalised for exceeding
the suggested word count. Please do not include additional information which is outside the scope of
the question.
Additional research
When completing this assignment, assumptions are permitted although they must not be in conflict with
the information provided in the Case Study.
You may also be required to source additional information from other organisations in the finance industry
to find the right products or services to meet your client’s requirements, or to calculate any service fees
that may be applicable.
Make a reasonable attempt
You must demonstrate that you have made a reasonable attempt to answer all of the questions in
your written assignment. Failure to do so will mean that your assignment will not be accepted for marking;
therefore you will not receive the benefit of feedback on your submission.
If you do not meet these requirements, you will be notified. You will then have until your submission
deadline to submit your completed written and oral assignment.
How your written assignment is graded
Assignment tasks are used to determine your ‘competence’ in demonstrating the required knowledge
and/or skills for each subject. As a result, you will be graded as either competent or not yet competent.
Your assessor will follow the below process when marking your written assignment:
• Assess your responses to each question, and sub-parts if applicable, and then determine whether you
have demonstrated competence in each question.
• Determine if, on a holistic basis, your responses to the questions have demonstrated overall
competence.
You must be deemed competent in all assessment items in order to be awarded your qualification,
including demonstrating competency in:
• all of the exam questions
• the written and oral assignment.
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‘Not yet competent’ and resubmissions
Should sections of your assignment be marked as ‘not yet competent’ you will be given an additional
opportunity to amend your responses so that you can demonstrate your competency to the required level.
You must address the assessor’s feedback in your amended responses. You only need amend those sections
where the assessor has determined you are ‘not yet competent’.
Make changes to your original submission. Use a different text colour for your resubmission. Your assessor
will be in a better position to gauge the quality and nature of your changes. Ensure you leave your first
assessor’s comments in your assignment, so your second assessor can see the instructions that were
originally provided for you. Do not change any comments made by a Kaplan assessor.
Units of competency
This written assignment is your opportunity to demonstrate your competency against these units:
Unit code Unit name
BSBRSK401 Identify risk and apply risk management processes
FNSPRM603 Grow the practice
BSBMGT502 Manage people performance
BSBMGT401 Show leadership in the workplace
FNSRSK502 Assess risks
Note that the Written and Oral Assignment is one of two assessments required to meet the requirements
of the units of competency.
We are here to help
If you have any questions about this written assignment you can post your query at the ‘Ask your Tutor’
forum in your subject room. You can expect an answer within 24 hours of your posting from one of our
technical advisers or student support staff.
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Capital City Finance and Mortgage Brokers (CCF & MB)
George and Mildred are very happy with the way you service your clients and are sure that you are a good
fit for the team. They now want you to turn your focus to your primary task, which is to assist in expanding
the business by building relationships with selected real estate agents, accountants and legal firms through
strategic alliances. They also want you to consider how CCF & MB can consolidate its relationships with its
existing strategic partners.
Let’s recap on what you already know about Capital City Finance and Mortgage Brokers (CCF & MB).
It’s a family owned business providing a range of mortgage and finance broking services to the business and
private sectors, with experience in all facets of finance and insurance, providing expert advice covering a
multitude of products and options existing within the market.
CCF & MB specialises in home loans, commercial lending, business lending, personal and motor vehicle
finance and insurance (life and general), and focuses on helping clients find the finance service suited to
their individual circumstances.
It provides its services through its association with the following partners:
• Australian Aggregators: a rising company within the aggregation business, with an extensive panel of
residential and commercial lenders, and asset finance.
• ABC General Insurance: a boutique insurance company specialising in a full range of general insurances.
• XYZ Life: a small family-owned insurance brokerage specialising in the full range of life insurance
products.
Based in the city, CCF & MB has the capacity to service clients from their office or anywhere at their clients’
convenience through its team of mobile brokers.
CCF & MB does not hold a credit license but operates as a credit representative of Australian Aggregators.
Since its inception 13 years ago, CCF & MB has built a loan book of almost $1.2 billion and averages over
$120 million in new loans annually.
CCF & MB’s vision is to be the mortgage and finance broker of choice in the greater metropolitan area.
CCF & MB’s mission statement is: ‘to operate professionally in accordance with legislation, our licence and
professional standards’.
CCF & MB’s values are as follows:
• to act with honesty and integrity at all times
• to provide unbiased advice and conduct business, free from any conflict of interest
• to maintain confidentiality in all dealings
• to meet all NCCP regulatory requirements
• to comply with all mortgage industry laws and regulations
• to ensure quality and efficiency in its loan processes.
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CCF & MB’s people
CCF & MB is owned by husband and wife, George and Mildred Spencer.
With over 35 years experience in finance and business ownership, George established and built a successful
business dedicated to assisting clients with managing their finances effectively. Starting the business with
his wife Mildred 13 years ago, George gained immense satisfaction in seeing it expand, to service more and
more clients across the city and greater metropolitan area. Although in recent years he has stepped back
from dealing directly with clients, he still maintains a small select clientele. He also takes great pride in
training and mentoring his team to enhance their performance.
Mildred has over 22 years of lending experience and is qualified, not only to assist her clients with their
mortgage requirements, but also to assist them with their commercial finance requirements. She also holds
financial planning qualifications. She specialises in asset finance.
The company has a small team of five additional consultants and two administration staff members.
Profiles for the team are as follows:
• Jennifer Dee is recognised as one of the top female brokers in Australia. She has been in the broking
industry for over 10 years and has a passion and dedication to assist and accommodate all of her clients’
needs with their financial dreams. Jennifer is an Accredited Mortgage Consultant with the Mortgage and
Finance Association of Australia (MFAA).
• Louise Spencer (George and Mildred’s eldest daughter) is an Accredited Mortgage Consultant with the
Mortgage and Finance Association of Australia (MFAA) and has been working as a loan consultant for
almost two years. Louise started off in the lending industry in the office as an administrator to gain as
much experience and knowledge as possible before taking a broking role. Her passion for helping her
clients ensures that she is always available to her clients at a time and place convenient for them.
• Michael Spencer is George’s younger brother and is CCF & MB’s equipment finance specialist. He has
over 25 years working in the equipment finance industry. He has developed an in-depth understanding
of the transport and agricultural industries, and also provides finance for general equipment,
motor vehicles and computer equipment.
• Martin Long has specialised in equipment finance for the last three years, but prior to this he spent
five years operating his own retail food business. This practical experience allows him to see things from
his client’s point of view, including experience with equipment finance. He specialises in plant and
equipment in the machinery, woodworking and packaging industries. Examples of some of the
equipment he has financed are farm machinery, extrusion lines, plastic injection moulders,
commercial catering equipment, woodworking plant, packaging lines, forklifts, office fit-outs and many
different motor vehicles.
• Luis Ramirez migrated to Australia as a young boy; 25 years ago with his family. After completing
high school he graduated from university with an accounting degree and worked in ANZ in commercial
lending. He joined CCF & MB four years ago and specialises in vehicle and capital equipment financing.
He provides ITC and general equipment lease funding options for clients. By providing better outcomes,
both during and at the end of their equipment leases, Luis’ many clients have been able to reduce costs
and maximise the value of their available budgets.
CCF & MB is a member of the MFAA, as a broking business dealing directly with the public. Both George
and Mildred are fellows of the MFAA. CCF & MB is also a corporate member of the FBAA.
All staff members, including consultants, are paid an annual salary plus superannuation. Consultants also
receive a car allowance plus a percentage of trail commissions, which are paid quarterly based on their
performance targets.
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CCF & MB’s panelled lenders
With access to an extensive panel of lenders, CCF & MB can meet most clients’ expectations.
Residential lenders are listed in the following table.
Adelaide Bank Homeloans Limited Pepper Home Loans
AMP Homeside Phoenix-Circle Credit Union
ANZ ING Direct PLAN Lending
Australian Financial Keystart PN Bank
Australian First Mortgage La Trobe Resi
Bank of Melbourne Liberty Financial St George Bank
BankSA Macquarie Suncorp
Bankwest ME Bank The Rock Building Society
Bluestone Mortgage Mart Westpac
Citibank NAB Wide Bay Australia Ltd
Commonwealth Bank Newcastle Permanent
Heritage Bank Peoples Choice Credit Union
Commercial lenders and asset finance providers are listed in the following table.
Adelaide Bank Commercial Bibby Financial Services Pty Ltd Liberty Financial Commercial
ANZ Commercial Commonwealth Bank Commercial NAB Commercial
Australian First Mortgage Commercial IMB Commercial St George Commercial
Bank SA Commercial ING Direct Commercial Suncorp Commercial
Bankwest Business Banking LaTrobe Commercial Westpac Commercial
Adelaide Bank Commercial Macquarie Leasing Westpac Equipment Finance
ANZ Asset Finance Commonwealth Bank Asset Finance Liberty Asset Finance
Future developments
George and Mildred are very keen to expand and grow their business and are in the process of speaking
with a number of real estate agents, accountants and legal firms with a view to forming strategic alliances.
Due to the expected increase in business, George and Mildred are seeking to employ another consultant to
take on the extra work. This person will be required to:
• build strategic relationships with a number of real estate agents, accountants and legal firms already
identified
• identify and foster relationships with other real estate agents, accountants and legal firms
• provide finance and mortgage broking services to new clients identified through these strategic alliances.
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Business management skills
Task 1 — Developing and nurturing relationships with clients,
other professionals and third-party referrers
George and Mildred now require you to write a plan to assist in developing and nurturing relationships
with clients, other professionals and third-party referrers.
Your plan should address the following:
1. How CCF & MB’s policies and procedures and legislative, regulatory and professional codes of practice
impact on developing and nurturing relationships.
2. How you would use CCF & MB’s social, business and ethical standards to develop and maintain positive
relationships.
3. The importance of confidentiality and how you would maintain it in your dealings with colleagues,
clients and other parties.
4. How you would adjust your interpersonal style to the needs and situation of other parties.
5. How you would go about developing and maintaining business and professional networks and other
relationships to benefit the organisation; and how you would use them to identify and cultivate
relationships in order to promote and market the organisation.
6. How you could use and cooperate with other professionals and third parties to expand and enhance the
reputation of the organisation, and to identify new and improved business practices.
7. How you would build referral business through appropriate communication channels, to find and secure
new business relationships.
8. How you would identify referral needs and provide information about CCF & MB’s relevant products
and services.
9. How you would secure interviews with referral business so that the needs of clients can be met.
(1,000 words)
You may use any format for your plan but you are not permitted to simply answer the points above. If you
are unsure as to how to write a plan, you can refer to the Business Growth and Marketing topic and use the
suggested SMEAC format outlined in Part 6, Section 13. Remember also the SMART principles.
When completing this task, assumptions are permitted although they must not be in conflict with the
information provided in the background information.
Student response to Task 1
The CCF&MB needs to adhere to social, legislative and regulatory framework so that appropriate
relationship can be nurtured and maintained with the clients. The are certain legislative code and
regulations which are applicable to CCF&MB and if the same are properly followed by CCF&MB than the
same would lead to better development of relations in the business. Some of the legislations and
regulations are listed below:
National Credit Code
As per section 9A of National Credit Code (NCC), the company needs to maintain a register of referrers with
the company is in agreement and it also needs to get the referral agreement signed when they are trying to
set up the referral agreement. This agreement is crucial as the same would be including discussion about
fess and benefits and all other commercial details which is related to the referrer. The referral register
needs to depict the name and contact details of the referrer, date and method of setting up an agreement.
In addition to this, the referral source and the first referral are also presented in the referral register.
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The rules which are set out by NCC also states that contact needs to be made with the referred customer
within a period of 10 business days. These referrals made to CCF&MB are important processes for
maintaining and nurturing relations with clients.
Australian Consumer Law
The main purpose of establishing the Australian Consumer law is to ensure that there is a fair and ethical
competition in the market is maintained and consumers are protected from malpractices of businesses. The
law applies to CCF&MB which implies that that the business should not engage in any activity which might
be unethical or misleading or deceptive. The Australia Consumer law clearly states the consumers should
not be harassed in any manner and effective sprit of competition needs to be maintained. The business of
CCF&MB needs to adhere to this code and thereby ensure that the needs of the consumers are met.
Code of Conduct and Practice
The management of CCF&MB needs to follow an established set of practices and conduct for developing
relations with the clients. The CCF&MB need to have a minimum standard and efficient training for the
employees so that the business can efficiently meet the standards of the clients and maintain an healthy
working environment.
The Anti Money Laundering and Counter Terrorism Financing
AML/CTF Act is an important act for businesses which are operating within the financial sector and
therefore appropriate adherence needs to be placed on such provisions by CCF&MB. These regulations
protect the clients from illegal practices. The obligations which are applicable on the business of CCF&MB
are listed below in point form:
 Conducting due diligence in conducting the activities of the business.
 Any suspicious activities or transactions needs to be checked carefully and if situation requires the
same is to be reported as well.
 Adequate records are to be maintained by CCF&MB so that proper scrutiny of the same can be
done at regular intervals.
If the business of CCF&MB follows such regulations, it would be able to build strong personal relations
Anti-discrimination legislation
The above legislation is specifically imposed for the purpose of prohibiting any kind of discrimination which
is based on race, caste, creed, gender, colour, sexual preference, age, religion and belief. This legislation
states that CCF&MB needs to build relations with members of groups and clients. These are important to
be followed for building relations.
Privacy Legislations
The privacy and confidentiality of the referral partners needs to be protected which is regulated by privacy
act 1988. The act specially states businesses to maintain, collect and store information of the client
securely. CFF & MB can develop a referral process which includes a confirmation from the referral partner
to say that the client’s approval being obtained. The client files needs to protected with the help of
passwords so that appropriate data can be stored by the business.
In order to adjust to interpersonal style to the needs to situation of the other parties the following steps
can be followed by personnel:
The business needs to develop a rapport with the clients. In order to achieve this, the business should be
communicating and build relations with the client in such a manner that they are influenced. The last stage
is the stage where I can put emphasis on work collaboration.
At CCF&MB, the business is quite diverse as we have residential lending, commercial lending, motor finance
and insurance scheme. We are continuously engaged in our activities and also ensure that we can get some
referrals for building up our business. In internal network plan, cross training programs are efficient ways to
gather information and option appropriate knowledge regarding the product and help different employees
of different sections to identify referral options. In case of external network plan, we will be developing
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relations with professional organizations with whom we will be working closely. We will be involving local
schools, corporate houses so that the message is passed that CCF&MB can help in fulfilling objectives of
clients seeking financial advisers.
CCF&MB would be relying on quality services for enhancing the reputation of the business. Quality services
would also bring about more referrals. The business can also enter into agreements with professionals for
proper promotion of the business. I would be also recommending that CCF&MB need to create its own
linkedin account so that information regarding the professional services can be shared from such a source.
This can also turn out to be an efficient method for enhancing the reputation and client base of CCF&MB.
I believe that the people needs to know that at CCF&MB what services we provide and therefore
communication needs to made appropriately. The clients who are currently be handled by the company are
important sources as they spread the news more effective regarding the nature of the business and then
they also refer to family members. The moves which CCF&MB needs to engage in is to send text messages,
emails to past clients, new clients, potential clients for communicating the services which is provided by
CCF&MB. An opinion of a person is the best form of referral and the same can only be done by a present
client.
The identification of the referral needs of referral partners and updating them is an important aspect of the
business. For establishing this, regular contact with the partners need to be established. This will ensure
our referral partners are aware about what is happening in lending market.
Assessor feedback for Task 1: Resubmission required?
A simple structured, relatively well thought out Plan and you have
demonstrated that you are competent regarding this Task. You just spent to
much time on the legislative and regulatory requirements.
No
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Task 2 — Growing the business
Having considered how you would go about building and nurturing relationships, George and Mildred now
require you to turn your attention to marketing and promoting CCF & MB’s business. This requires you to
develop a marketing plan for the business.
In developing your marketing plan you should consider the following:
1. Your plan should be developed in line with CCF & MB’s vision statement.
2. The identification of target markets, using a combination of research and your own personal experience.
3. The identification of your major competitors (at least two) with a competitor analysis developed for
each competitor.
4. The identification of CCF & MB’s market position, based on your research findings and analysis.
5. How you would promote CCF & MB’s brand and the tools you would use to achieve this.
6. The provision of options for increasing yield per existing client.
7. How you would implement your plan and monitor it to ensure objectives/goals/performance indicators
are being met.
8. How you would adjust your plan if required.
(1,000 words)
You may use any format for your plan but you are not permitted to simply answer the points above. If you
are unsure as to how to write a plan, you can refer to the Business Growth and Marketing topic and use the
suggested SMEAC format outlined in Part 6, Section 13. Remember also the SMART principles.
When completing this task, assumptions are permitted although they must not be in conflict with the
information provided in the background information.
Student response to Task 2
The business of CCF&MB had started around 13 years ago and has grown to build of a loan book of
appropriately $ 1.2 billion with new loans averaging $ 120 million yearly. The marketing plan which I would
be developing are structured and shown below in details:
Vision Statement: The vision of the company is to be the preferred choice in mortgage and finance
brokering in the greater metropolitan areas and attract more and more clients in the area.
Mission Statement: The mission for the company is to operate efficiently and professional in accordance
with legislations, license for operating and professional standards.
The goals which are considered by the organization are listed below:
 To offer the best services and affordable mortgage and finance broker services in the area.
 To attract more clients to the business and attract over 500 clients through the referral programs.
 The business aims to attain a client base of 2000 clients annually.
 The business wants to partner with 15 more lenders in the next four-year period to create a better
borrowing capacity for the company.
The mortgage and brokering marketing has grown significantly and this is the main reason due to which
businesses and individuals can access loans more freely for the purpose of acquiring properties and
premises with the help of mortgages. There are many deals which are available in the market and some of
the same are not appropriate. The business of CFF & MB has been growing significantly over the years and
is determined to acquire shares in the mortgage industry. Mortgages are currently available for residential
loans, commercial property loans, and investment loans.
The client base which is constituted in CFF & MB are under three classifications which are the clients wants
to purchase their own houses, clients who wants to purchase rental property and clients who are looking
for expansion of their business. In most cases, the clients are after mortgages for purchasing houses which
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