Broker satisfaction with CBA dives

The major bank’s net promoter score has plunged into negative territory following a second consecutive increase in its turnaround times, new data has revealed.

According to Momentum Intelligence’s latest Broker Pulse statistics – which involves a monthly survey of sentiment towards lenders across the third-party channel – the Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s (CBA) net promoter score (NPS) has slipped into negative territory for the first time since March.

After peaking at 28 in May, the major bank’s NPS plunged 42 index points over the past three months, slipping to -14 as of 31 August.

The deterioration in broker satisfaction with CBA has coincided with an increase in the big four bank’s turnaround times, which have almost doubled in recent months, from an average of six business days in June to 11 business days in August.

This comes less than a week after CBA CEO Matt Comyn lauded the bank’s processing capabilities in a parliamentary hearing.

“We’ve invested tens of millions of dollars to make sure that we can turn around [our] lending decision times within a couple of days,” he said.

“It’s enabled us to grow above system. We lent more than $100 billion last financial year to housing.”

Despite the recent blowout in the bank’s turnaround times, the share of brokers lodging mortgage applications with CBA (broker usage) has increased, from 48 per cent in June and July to 54 per cent in August.

CBA’s portfolio growth has far exceeded its big four peers over the 2020 calendar year.  

According to the latest monthly banking statistics from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), the bank’s mortgage portfolio grew by a further $1.1 billion in July.

‍