Large banks at fastest turnarounds for 2 years

The banks that brokers most commonly use have reduced their turnarounds to under seven business days for the first time this decade, according to new data.

According to the latest findings of the monthly Broker Pulse survey from Momentum Intelligence, brokers have experienced a marked improvement in the turnaround times for their most favoured lenders.

The report, which collated the responses from 212 brokers responding to the February 2022 survey between 1 and 11 March, revealed that “large ADIs” (authorised deposit-taking institutions used by more than 20 per cent of respondents) had drastically improved their time to initial credit decision.

According to brokers, this banking segment was now taking an average of seven business days to reach an initial credit decision, down from nine days the month prior, and a marked improvement from the same time last year, when turnarounds for this segment were at an average of 12 business days (almost three weeks).

Over the month of February 2022, the top three fastest banks among the large ADIs were: Macquarie Bank (which halved its wait time in February to two business days); Commonwealth Bank of Australia (dropping from six days to four days); and CBA subsidiary Bankwest (reducing from seven days to five days).

All these lenders have been focusing heavily on digitising the mortgage process, with CBA revealing this week that it will soon be rolling out more tech features to help accelerate its mortgage lending process further.

Some notable improvers included Suncorp Bank, which Broker Pulse respondents suggested had shaved six business days of its turnaround time over February 2022, taking it to seven business days.

Meanwhile, ANZ – which has been overhauling its retail and mortgage processes recently – had reportedly shortened its time to initial credit decision by four days. The major bank’s time to initial credit decision was hovering at an average of 12 business days, brokers said.

Similarly, the lesser-used banks (“small ADIs” or those used by less than 20 per cent of Broker Pulse respondents) also managed to reach a credit decision in nine business days over February, continuing their recent trend of deteriorating turnarounds.

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NAB-owned lender 86 400 topped the segment, with an average turnaround of four business days, according to brokers.

However, the segment saw several lenders – including BOQ and HSBC – continue to have long wait times, at 16 days and 18 days, respectively.

Non-bank lenders also improved as a segment, returning their fastest turnarounds as a group. The non-banks were reaching an initial credit decision in five business days, the first time they had hit this speed since January 2021.

For this segment of the lending market, AFG and Advantedge were providing brokers with the fastest response times, both at three business days.

The February 2022 Broker Pulse survey also included new features for the first time, including analysis of why brokers were choosing the lenders they were.

According to the survey, the leading factor pushing brokers to major banks and non-banks was “client circumstances”, while product pricing was the dominant factor for the non-majors.

Original story on The Adviser.