ING, Macquarie, lead loan turnarounds

Non-majors Macquarie and ING led the pack in arriving at loan decisions in September.‍

According to the most recent Broker Pulse survey conducted between 1-10 October 2021 and participated by 232 respondents, turnarounds are slowly creeping up for large ADIs, but Macquarie and ING still show improved processing speeds by 1 business day each.

Large ADIs

Banks receiving a large market share (greater than 20% of broker flows) exhibited a slight increase in turnaround speeds, now sitting at 9 business days on average.

Macquarie, however, showed ease in navigating all loan scenarios, taking an average of only 4 business days overall. Its longest processing was for loans from self-employed clients, which still sits at an impressive duration of 5 business days.

The non-major also seemed to be the way to go for broker-lodged loans from first-home buyers, as it took only 2 business days - four times faster than the industry average - to initial credit decision. Macquarie’s speed in processing purchase loans was also unmatched at 3 business days.

ING, which received the 5th highest broker share in this month’s survey, was at close second in terms of turnaround time after it marked an overall average of 5 business days.

As most lenders struggled with complex scenarios and those from self-employed applicants, the non-major took an average of only 3 business days to credit decision for both loan types.

First-home buyers also experienced short processing times with ING, as turnarounds for these loans sit at 4 business days. AMP and ME Bank processed loans of the same type at similar speeds.

Meanwhile, after receiving the highest volume of broker applications this month, CBA took 7 days to initial credit decision - a day longer than the previous month but still faster than industry average. Loan applications with complex scenarios and first-home buyers took longer by 1 and 2 days with CBA, respectively.

ANZ, which received the 2nd highest volume of broker flows, struggled the most with turnarounds among all lenders. The major’s overall average turnaround expanded to 16 business days in September, up by 4 business days since August. Time to initial credit decision also blew out to an average of 22 business days for self-employed applicants.

Small ADIs

Small ADIs are recovering from August’s expanded turnarounds as more than half of these lenders improved their processing speeds. The segment marked an average turnaround time of 7 business days in September, down from 9 business days the previous month.

Bank Australia remains the fastest among small ADIs with an average turnaround of 5 business days, even after most recent survey results revealed that it took a day longer to process loans.

Newcastle Permanent, MyState, and Teachers Mutual Bank closely follow with all 3 banks taking an average of 6 business days to process loan applications.

MyState also showed impressive speeds for refinances, taking only 3 business days on average.

After slashing processing time by 4 days this month, Teachers Mutual Bank also shows quick turnarounds for complex loan scenarios and those lodged by first-home buyers with initial credit decisions arriving after 3 and 4 days, respectively.

Large non-ADIs

Turnarounds for large non-ADIs are slowly creeping up, as it approached 8 days last September.

Connective Home Loans, however, improved its processing speeds with time to initial credit decision now sitting at 5 business days. Complex scenarios showed fast turnarounds of 4 business days on average, while applications lodged by first-home buyers were decided upon after 3 business days.

Meanwhile, Advantedge keeps its loan processing speed to 5 business days. The large non-ADI also provided faster turnarounds to first-home buyers with processing speeds of only up to 4 days.

Pepper Money, which received the highest volume of broker applications among non-ADIs, continued to show ease in handling loan applications. Taking only 7 business days on average, the non-ADI showed even faster speeds for complex loans and those lodged by self-employed buyers, as both sit at 4 business days each.

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