Broker Pulse Commercial Lending wrap-up: October 2024

Broker Flows

Broker flows is the measure of broker-originated applications for the month—where the traffic of broker-originated applications is flowing within the lender market. 

To understand how each lender performs, we break down the flows by loan type, these include:

Commercial mortgages

ANZ is the most-used lender for commercial mortgages in October 2024, with 36% of all commercial brokers submitting commercial mortgages to them—up from 24% in the previous month. 

NAB maintains its broker flows month-on-month, with 34% of brokers submitting commercial loans to them (a minor deviation from the 35% of the previous month).

Business loans

For business loans, we can see a significant change month-on-month for the most-used lender, as Shift boasts 32% of brokers submitting loans to the lender this month—up from 12% in September. 

Once again, NAB holds firm with their broker flows month-on-month, with 29% of commercial brokers submitting applications to the lender in October (after 30% in September).

Asset finance

Westpac continues to lead the way in asset finance broker flows, with 45% of brokers choosing to work with the lender in this category (43% in the previous month). 

Other top performers in asset finance include Metro Finance and Angle Finance, with 40% and 36% of brokers working with these lenders, respectively.

Turnaround Times

Commercial mortgages

Major business banks (ADIs)

In October 2024, the average turnaround time for the major banks was 7.3 business days, which is an improvement on the previous month’s 7.9 business days.

The major bank with the best-reported average turnaround time over the past three months was ANZ, with an average of 6.6 business days.

Business banks (ADIs)

Business banks show more stability in their average turnaround times. In October, the group had an average turnaround time of 7.4 business days. This is slightly slower than the previous month’s average of 7.0 business days, but the smaller variance may make the group feel more stable for some brokers.

Judo Bank had the quickest average turnaround time over the past three months, with 6 business days.

Non-bank lenders (Non-ADI)

Where business banks show small variation, non-bank lenders show the inverse. The group’s average turnaround time in October was 6.6 business days, which is a significant improvement on the previous month’s 7.8 business days, though not as quick as August’s 4.8 business days. The lender with the best average turnaround time over the past three months was Resimac with 4.3 business days. 

Business loans

Major business banks (ADIs)

Major business banks remain stable in their business loans turnaround times, with an average of 7.5 business days. ANZ boasts the fastest average over the last three months, with 6.4 days.

Business banks (ADIs)

Business banks are back to the performance we saw in August, with an average turnaround time of 5.8 days for business loans, after what is hopefully an outlier of 7.4 days in September. 

Non-bank lenders (Non-ADI)

Within this category, only two lenders are applicable in October, Liberty Financial and Resimac, with an average turnaround time of 4.9 business days. 

Non-bank business lenders (Non-ADI)

Non-bank lenders have by far the shortest turnaround times for business loans, with 1.5 business days in October. The faster lender was Bizcap with an average of 1 business day over the past three months. 

Commercial asset finance

Major business banks (ADIs)

Improving turnaround times by more than a whole business day month-on-month, major business banks boast an average turnaround time of 1.6 business days (2.7 in the previous month). 

Business banks (ADIs)

Also showing measured improvement from September, business banks delivered an average of 2.7 business days in October (from 3.7 days the previous month). St. George Bank and Macquarie Bank lead the faster turnaround times, with 3-month averages of 1.8 days and 1.9 days, respectively.

Non-bank lenders (Non-ADI)

Non-bank lenders remain consistent and relatively quick with their turnaround times, with a group average of 1.7 days in commercial asset finance. The group of lenders shows a variance of just 0.1 business days, month-on-month (1.6 average in September), meaning their future turnaround time performance may be easier to predict going forward.

Non-bank business lenders (Non-ADI)

Another group of speedy turnaround lenders, non-bank business lenders had an average turnaround time of 1.2 days in October.

Experience

Each month, brokers report their satisfaction with each stage of the process with a lender—application, assessment, settlement, and general BDM satisfaction. In our monthly report, we summarise the results into positive, negative and neutral satisfaction levels.

BDMs

BDMs are the first touchpoint a broker has with a lender and can directly impact the overall experience. Comparing October’s average to September’s, the average satisfaction rating for BDMs from brokers has increased for the major banks, but decreased for non-bank lenders and non-bank business leaders. The best-performing lenders are St George Bank, ING, Bendigo Bank, and Adelaide Bank—all with satisfaction ratings of 100%.

Application

Across the board, brokers reported feeling less satisfied with the application process in October’s average.  You may remember that in September’s average, six non-bank business lenders had satisfaction ratings of 100%, but in October, only Moula retained that rating. For major banks—Westpac leads with 90%, business banks—ING at 100%, and non-bank lenders—ORDE Financial at 93%.

Credit assessment

Rating their experience with lenders in the assessment stage, brokers reported high satisfaction with business banks, with six of nine lenders earning ratings of over 80%.

Settlement

The final stage in the process is often front of mind when reflecting on the experience with a lender. All groups experienced an upward shift in their average ratings from last month’s averages.

About this survey

This month, the Broker Pulse: Commercial Lending survey interviewed 291 total brokers, with 122 active commercial brokers sharing their experiences. The survey was conducted between the 1st and the 20th of November 2024 to uncover brokers’ experiences with lenders throughout October 2024. 

The survey asks participating brokers to share their experiences with the lenders they've used throughout the month. Brokers are asked to rate each lender's turnaround times, credit assessment staff, BDMs and their overall experience.

Broker responses are aggregated each month and distributed back to participating brokers and lenders to enable transparency across the market with the goal of improving consumer outcomes. This community-driven initiative is powered by brokers who want to unlock the collective experiences of their fellow brokers to make more informed decisions.