Broker flows surge for non-majors, CBA still takes the lead

According to the most recent Broker Pulse survey results conducted between 1-10 November 2021 and participated by 252 brokers, third-party channel usage rates for all non-majors is currently at their highest since May 2021. Large banks are also showing record processing speeds relative to year-long performance.

Overall Performance

CBA set itself apart after being the sole lender to reach above 40% usage rates in October, while Macquarie exhibited the steepest jump in application volume.

Small ADIs (receiving less than 20% of broker flows) increased their time to initial credit decision by 1 business day in October, now sitting at 8 business days on average.

For large ADIs, average turnaround speed of 8 business days is currently the fastest in the last 12 months. Large non-banks are also trimming processing speeds, although they remain far from their overall performance in the previous year.

Commonwealth Bank

CBA continues to dominate broker flows in October, capturing 44% of broker usage and exhibiting a 5 five per cent jump from its September performance.

The strong showing also happened against the backdrop of faster turnaround times. At 6 business days to initial credit decision, CBA exhibited its fastest rate of loan processing in a year.

The major also started the fourth quarter well as its net promoter score in October reached 24, 11 points higher than its 3 month-average in the previous quarter.

Macquarie

After consistent top-tier personnel performance and quick turnarounds, Macquarie’s broker usage rate outperformed all lenders but CBA in October, exhibiting the steepest month-on-month increase in applications lodged through the third-party channel.

The non-major received 39% of broker flows in this month’s survey, one percentage point higher than the previous month and its highest since July.

The bank is also winning at service consistency.

Despite an increase in broker flows, it keeps its turnarounds at a top-tier speed of 4 business days on average. Additionally, refinances and applications from first-home buyers only take 3 business days to initial credit decision - a speed twice as fast as the industry average.

Additionally, brokers gave the non-major the highest score in terms of BDM helpfulness and ease in lodging applications, and the 2nd highest in terms of credit assessor consistency.

ANZ

Ranking third place, ANZ steadily recovers broker flows as applications increase since the 2nd quarter. As per the most recent 3-month rolling average datasets, the major is also strategically positioned at the top of the leaderboard in terms of third-party lodged application volumes.

ANZ’s personnel performance, however, is taking a dip, as it replaces St. George Banking Group at 10th place in terms of credit assessor performance and lags behind its competitors in BDM helpfulness and ease in submitting applications.

NAB

After downturns in the 2nd quarter, NAB is seeing continued growth early into quarter four.

Broker flows are expanding for the major, up by 4% the previous month and now at 31%.

The major’s overall time to initial credit decision is also shorter, now only taking 7 business days on average and down from a mean duration of 12 days in the second quarter. This speed remains within the industry average across most loan scenarios except for refinances and those from self-employed applicants.

Although recent survey findings suggest that brokers are having the most difficulty with reaching out to the bank’s BDMs, NAB’s customer effort scores and service quality from credit assessors stand within average bounds.

ING

Closely following NAB is ING, jumping 3 percentage points in broker usage to land the 5th spot in this month’s survey.

The non-major maintains its competitive turnaround time of 5 business days, only slightly lagging behind Macquarie’s 4-day processing. ING’s speed also fares well across all loan scenarios and is consistently beating industry averages.

Meanwhile, the non-major ranked first in terms of credit assessor consistency at 86 per cent, almost 50 per cent above the industry average in October. Brokers additionally rated ING the second highest in terms of BDM helpfulness.

Despite ING’s strong showing in multiple indicators, its net promoter score, however, took a deep dive from a 12-month record high of 75 in September to 50 in October.

St. George Banking Group

The beginning of the fourth quarter is seeing a strong recovery from St. George Banking Group, as its chunk of broker applications marks a steep increase in this month’s survey.

From ranking 8th place overall in the third quarter, STG climbs 8 percentage points in October and is now placed 6th in terms of broker usage.

While its net promoter score remains on the far negative end of the spectrum, the bank is also showing an improving trend.

Brokers suggest, however, that STG could still greatly improve its ease of use, with one of them citing that “Tech errors meant resubmission of docs multiple times after unconditional approval”, dragging the entire process and making it “very difficult to get back on track”.

Bankwest

Bankwest’s share of broker-lodged applications expanded by 3% last October. This strong showing, however, was overshadowed by higher increases in broker flows from other banks, bringing the non-major from 4th place in September to 7th in this month’s survey.

The non-major’s expanding application volume was also accompanied by an increase in overall turnarounds, as it now takes 2 days longer on average, sitting at 9 business days.

Bankwest’s net promoter score remains on the positive end of the spectrum despite suffering a hit in October, shedding 16 points from its 12-month record high of 42 points in September.

Westpac

Westpac placed 7th in this month’s survey and just right below St. George Banking Group at 8th place on a 3-month rolling average. The major’s application volume is also climbing steadily since August of this year.

Even with the 3 percentage-point expansion in broker flows, the major also managed to slash its processing time by almost a third and is now down to 8 business days.

Like STG, however, Westpac’s NPS is still on the negative end of the spectrum, and most recent findings suggest that the major’s detractors are increasing.

Suncorp

Receiving 17% of broker flows in October, Suncorp remains at 9th place all year round. The non-major is also slowly regaining client fraction after a notable thinning of usage rates in July.

However, it remains among the few lenders with negative NPS and scores continue to dip for Suncorp since the second quarter.

Advantedge

Advantedge is the only non-bank to land in the top 10 most commonly used lenders this month, pushing AMP off of the leaderboard. Competition between the two lenders has been tight and they have been alternating for the 10th spot  the previous months.

The non-ADI also consistently shows fast average turnaround times which currently sits at 5 business days, and is consistently showing quicker processing than industry average across all loan scenarios.

Advantedge also leads non-banks in terms of BDM experience and has the 4th highest net promoter score among all lenders based on a three-month rolling average.

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