ANZ tops in broker usage; Macquarie leads in turnaround time, broker experience, BDMs and credit experience

The latest Broker Pulse: Residential Lending report by Agile Market Intelligence reveals insights from our monthly survey of Australia’s mortgage brokers and highlights the key lender movements across usage, service, loan processing times, and broker experience. 

Broker flows

ANZ tops as the most commonly used bank for 48% of brokers; Majors dominate broker usage

Forty-eight percent of brokers submitted deals to ANZ, the most-used lender and top Major bank in terms of broker usage in January 2026. Macquarie comes up second with a 42% broker usage, the highest among the non-major banks. The second through fourth rankings are occupied by the Major banks, with ratings of 39% for CBA, 31% for Westpac, and 26% for NAB. This performance shows that the Majors remain the strongest broker usage across the various lender types.

Among the non-majors, Bankwest attracted the strongest broker usage at 24%, followed by St. George Banking Group at 23%. Regarding the non-bank lenders, Pepper Money and Firstmac garnered the most broker usage at 8%. 

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‍Decision drivers

More brokers cite product pricing as a leading factor in recommending Majors and non-banks

Seventy-seven percent of brokers who engaged with Major banks provided recommendations primarily because of how the lenders’ products matched the circumstances of their clients. This is down 3 percentage points from last December 2025. Instead, more brokers looked towards product pricing, which was the second-highest reason for broker recommendations (37%). This pattern is the same for non-banks, wherein 81% cited client circumstances as a core driver, but decreased in priority by 6 percentage points. Instead, more brokers opted for product pricing, which increased from 7% in December to 18% in January 2026.

For non-major banks, product pricing remains the priority for brokers (61%). However, product pricing is steadily losing priority over client circumstances. Currently, 59% of brokers would recommend non-major banks due to client circumstances.

‍Turnaround times

Macquarie, BCU, and RedZed lead with the shortest turnaround time

Large ADIs

In an impressive feat, the large ADIs reported shorter turnaround times in January 2026 compared to December 2025. Macquarie remains the top lender with the shortest turnaround time, only taking up 1.6 business days. This mid-tier is followed by Bankwest and St. George Banking Group, with average turnaround times of 3.1 and 3.3 business days, respectively. Among the Major banks, Westpac leads the pack with a turnaround time of 3.4 days. 

‍Small ADIs

In the small ADIs category, most of the banks improved their turnaround time in January 2026. BCU had the shortest turnaround time of 1.5 business days. Ubank and P&N follow in second and third place, taking around 2.7 and 3 business days. Rounding out at fourth place is MyState with a processing time of 3.5 days. People’s Choice is the only lender that showed regression, taking up an additional 4 days compared to last December.

‍Non-ADIs

RedZed leads the non-ADIs with the quickest turnaround time of 3.9 days. Following close behind is Liberty Financial, taking up 4 days. La Trobe Financial has the slowest turnaround time of 6.7 business days. However, it should be noted that all the non-ADIs have improved their processing times significantly in the month of January 2026. 

‍Broker experience

Macquarie, P&N Bank, and AFG Home Loans boast highest broker satisfaction experience

‍Large ADIs

Still reigning as the top lender for broker experience among large ADIs, Macquarie is serving excellent broker experience for 96% of brokers. ING follows with a 92% rating. The top scores are rounded out by Bankwest and St. George Banking with scores of 91% and 88%, respectively. NAB scored the highest among the Majors with a 87% satisfaction rating, while the rest served lower ratings. AMP remains at the bottom with a satisfaction score of 68%.

‍Small ADIs

P&N and Great Southern Bank share the top spot among small ADIs with a satisfaction rating of 92% among brokers. At third place, ubank scored a 90% rating, followed by MyState at 89%. Following these lenders are Bank Australia with a score of 87%, and HSBC with a 81% satisfaction rating.

‍Non-ADIs

Among non-ADIs, AFG Home Loans provided the most positive broker experience with a rating of 97%. RedZed follows second with a score of 94%, rounded out by Advantedge with a score of 88% to complete the top three ranks. 

‍Broker insights on BDMs and credit teams

Macquarie remains the top lender for both BDMs and credit assessor experience

In terms of broker experience with lender BDMs, Macquarie ranked the highest positive rating at 95%. ING came second with a score of 91%, followed closely by Bendigo with a rating of 88%. Overall, mid-tier banks provided more positive BDM experiences compared to the Major banks, with ANZ having the highest score at 84%.

Among less commonly used ADIs, Auswide, BCU, Beyond Bank, and P&N all scored a resounding 100% for the month of January. Coming up after these ADIs is HSBC, with a rating of 91%. Meanwhile, AFG Home Loans and Connective Loans both scored a 100% experience rating, the highest among the commonly used non-ADIs. Following in their footsteps were Liberty Financial and RedZed, with scores of 92% and 90%, respectively.

Ranked first was Macquarie with a 96% satisfaction rating for credit assessment experience. ING and ME Bank follow in turn with the same score of 88%, rounded out by Bankwest with a rating of 84%. 

Among the less commonly used ADIs, Beyond Bank, P&N, and Teachers Mutual Bank scored a resounding 100%. MyState follows directly behind with an experience rating of 94%. As for the commonly used non-ADIs, Advantedge, AFG Home Loans, Connective Home Loans, and RedZed all scored a 100% positive experience rating. Following after was Liberty Financial with a score of 85%. 

‍About the report

This Broker Pulse survey gathered responses from 344 residential brokers, collected between the 1st and 16th of February 2026. Brokers were asked to share their experiences with the lenders they worked with throughout September, rating them across turnaround time, credit assessment, BDM interactions, and the overall broker journey. 

About Broker Pulse: Residential Lending

Broker Pulse is a monthly survey of residential mortgage lenders conducted by Agile Market Intelligence. It is a community-driven knowledge base of lender performance that offers transparency to the market by surfacing these collective insights from the broker community. This empowers brokers to make informed decisions and enables lenders to benchmark and improve performance.

Participating brokers receive access to a bird’s-eye view of the lender benchmarking data each month. To sign up or for more information visit https://www.brokerpulse.com.au/.