Client fit drives consumers to major bank and non-bank lenders, Macquarie leads in BDM experience, credit assessment, and broker trust scores

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 dominates broker usage, followed by Macquarie

ANZ is the most-used major lender with 47% of brokers submitting applications through this lender. Macquarie follows with a 44% market share, the largest mid-tier lender across the board. This reveals Macquarie continues to be a contender against the majors. CBA joins them at third with 39% broker usage, ahead of Westpac and NAB.

Among the non-majors, St. George Banking Group (24%) consistently attracted strong broker interest, with their consistent service levels resonating with intermediaries. This is followed by Bankwest and ING with 22% broker usage. Firstmac (9%) led the charge among non-bank lenders, overtaking Pepper Money and La Trobe Financial with an extremely narrow margin, as they provide a key option for brokers seeking flexible solutions for niche borrower needs.

‍Decision drivers

Client fit and product pricing determine lender selection

Client circumstances, together with product pricing remained the top factors influencing broker recommendations across all lender categories. Major banks and non-banks showcased similarly ranked preferences. For major banks, 80% of brokers cited client circumstances as a core driver, product pricing following at a far second (30%) and client preference coming as the third reason (16%). In the case of non-banks, these reasons scored 83%, 13%, and 5%, respectively. 

For non-major banks, product pricing is the leading factor (64%) in choosing a lender, overshadowing client circumstances (56%). For non-banks, client circumstances is the overwhelming decision driver with a solid 83%. Turnaround times continue to be a significant reason for choosing lenders in the case of non-major banks, reaching 28% preference. In such a fast-paced and demanding environment, this reflects a growing preference for quick and streamlined lending processes for non-major banks. 

‍Turnaround times

Macquarie leads with the shortest turnaround time, as overall processing time increases in October 2025

Large ADIs

Macquarie Bank once more leads with the fastest average of 1.6 business days, a preference for brokers seeking a rapid turnaround time. This is followed by Bankwest with a turnaround time of 3.7 days. Bendigo Bank comes up third with 3.8 business days. ME Bank and ING follow with turnaround times reaching 3.9 and 4 days, respectively. Turnaround times have lagged this month for all large ADIs, with the exception of AMP Bank.

Small ADIs

In the small ADIs category, ubank maintained its top spot with a turnaround time of 2.0 business days. MyState comes in second with a turnaround time of 4.6 days, followed closely by P&N Bank taking 4.9 business days. People’s Choice is notable as one of only two small ADIs to have improved its turnaround rate compared to the previous month, having cut down the time by half. Heritage Bank, Great Southern Bank and HSBC have seen large slow downs last month.

Non-ADIs

Among non-banks, Advantedge remains as the most rapid lender with a 2.8 day reported turnaround time. This spot is followed by AFG Home Loans, taking an average of 4 business days. Resimac comes up third in the ranking with a score of 5.1, an improvement from its performance last month. La Trobe Financial is the only other non-ADI to have similarly outpaced itself, taking 6.2 days. The rest of the non-ADIs, by contrast, have either seen turnaround times slower or at pace with last month. 

Broker experience

Macquarie, Bank Australia, and Resimac win broker trust

Large ADIs

Macquarie Bank continues to provide the best broker experience with a three-month average broker experience rating of 96%. Bankwest follows behind closely at 92% broker experience rating. ING comes in third with a satisfaction rate of 89%, just slightly above NAB and Suncorp Bank both at 88%. By contrast, AMP remains as the least satisfactory lender across the board, landing a satisfaction rate of 72%. 

Small ADIs

The top three small ADIs follow closely in terms of satisfied customers over the past three months. Bank Australia continues to lead the small ADI broker experience, with a 3-month average of 92% satisfaction, a 3 point reduction from last month. Great Southern Bank follows at 91%, with ubank placing a score of 90%. MyState remains in the same position as last month, with a similar score of 87%, with P&N and Beyond Bank lapping at its heels at 86% and 85%, respectively.

Non-ADIs

Resimac overtakes the other non-ADIs as the leading lender, with a rating of 90%. Advantedge follows in second with a score of 88%, a five point improvement from last month. AFG Home Loans and Liberty Financial come up with the same rating of 83%, with Pepper Money joining the top five at 82%. 

Broker insights on BDMs and credit teams

Macquarie leads in both BDMs and credit assessment performance

Macquarie Bank ranks first in terms of BDM experience, with a satisfaction rate of 95%. Bankwest similarly rose in the ranks to place second with a score of 91%. ME Bank and Suncorp Bank both follow a similar rate of 89%. For less commonly used ADIs, three lenders scored a resounding 100% in the month of October. These are Auswide Bank, P&N Bank, and ubank. Following them are the Great Southern Bank (96%), HSBC (82%), and Bank Australia (82%). Looking at the commonly used non-ADIs, brokers rated Liberty Financial as having the most positive BDM experience at 95%. This lender is followed by La Trobe Financial and AFG Home Loans at 87% and 86%, respectively.

Macquarie similarly ranks the highest in the area of credit assessor performance, with a satisfaction rate of 95% across the most commonly used ADIs. ING follows second with a score of 92%, rounded out by Suncorp Bank and Bankwest with the same score of 89%. Among the less commonly used ADIs, ubank takes the top spot at 94%. Great Southern Bank comes in next with a score of 92%, with MyState following closely at 91%. Finally, RedZed scored a resounding 100% satisfaction rate in their credit assessor performance by brokers. Following in second and third are Connective Home Loans (90%) and Resimac (87%), respectively.

‍About the report

The October 2025 edition of Broker Pulse is based on responses from 316 residential brokers, collected between the 1st and 17th November 2025. Brokers were asked to share their experiences with the lenders they worked with throughout October, 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 www.brokerpulse.com.au.