January sees split performance across Australia’s business lenders

Australia’s business lending landscape showed a mixed start to 2026, based on Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) data for the top ten Authorised Deposit-taking Institutions (ADIs) in January, analysed by Agile Market Intelligence. Major banks collectively expanded their loan books by $3.71 billion, led by CBA, while ANZ recorded a $110 million decline. Among mid-tier ADIs, only Macquarie and Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Limited posted positive growth. 

Key stats you need to know

• 3 in 4 major banks grew their business loan books to $840.84 billion in January 2026.
  
  
• Among the top 10 lenders, five saw shrinking loan books at the start of the year.
  
  
• ANZ sustained a $110-million decline in total business loans.

Majors see 3.71 billion growth in business loan book

• At $261.07 billion, NAB’s total business loan book remains the largest across Australia.
  
  
• CBA’s business loan book ($230.82 billion) expanded by $2.02 billion, leading growth in January.
  
  
• Westpac’s loan book maintains steady growth, while ANZ sustained a $110-million reduction in loan portfolio.

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Australia’s major banks recorded a $3.71 billion expansion in their loan books in January, bringing the total to $840.84 billion. While NAB retains its status as Australia’s biggest business lender at $261.07 billion, most of the growth was driven by a $2.02 billion increase in CBA’s business loan portfolio, which now stands at $230.82 billion.

Westpac also posted steady growth in its portfolio with its portfolio expanding by $1.2 billion. In contrast, ANZ was the only major to record a contraction with its business loan book declining by $110 million.

Mid-tier ADIs sustain modest to negative growth

• All top 3 foreign lenders saw loan book compression.
  
  
• Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation was Australia’s 5th largest non-financial business lender ($23.6 billion), but growth decline was the steepest at -1.46%.
  
  
• At 7th place, Rabobank’s portfolio drops by 0.8%, now valued at $21.80 billion.
  
  
• Macquarie and Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Limited were the only mid-tiers that saw loan book growth, carrying business debts totalling $22.32 billion and $14.55 billion, respectively. 

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Mid-tier ADI’s posted modest to negative movements in their loan books in January, with all top 3 foreign lenders seeing declines. Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation was ranked as Australia’s 5th largest non-financial business lender at $23.6 billion, but recorded the steepest decline at -1.46%, equivalent to $350 million. Rabobank also saw a decline in its loan book, decreasing by 0.8% to $21.8 billion.

Only Macquarie and Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Limited posted positive growth among the mid-tiers at the start of the year, expanding their loan books by 0.36% and 0.40% to $22.32 billion and $14.55 billion, respectively.

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About the research

The figure in this article was drawn by Agile Market Intelligence from APRA’s monthly ADI statistics to January 2026. The dataset covers total loans to non-financial businesses across Authorised Deposit-Taking Institutions (ADIs). For this analysis, Agile plotted publicly available data to show movements in loan books and market share to identify the top 10 business lenders.

Agile also conducts Broker Pulse: Commercial Lending, a community-driven benchmarking initiative capturing the experiences of commercial and asset finance brokers across Australia. The report includes data across asset finance, business loans, and commercial mortgages, and is conducted by Agile Market Intelligence.

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