Lender Spotlight: Westpac (September 2024)

In the past two years, Westpac has achieved major improvements in the third-party channel, as evidenced by data from Broker Pulse. Broker usage is up year-on-year, turnaround times have improved, and the lender's NPS has improved since the same period in 2023.  Let’s explore Westpac’s progress across these metrics, using comparisons between September 2023 and September 2024.

Broker Usage

The broker usage metric measures how many brokers who participate in the Broker Pulse use a specific lender. For Westpac, broker usage has had ups and downs over the past year, but is trending upwards over the past decade. The Adviser reports on broker flow, noting Westpac and ANZ are seeing broker flow increase while other lenders see a decrease as they shift focus to proprietary lending.

To compare the lender’s performance from September 2024 to September 2023, broker usage increased from 27% to 35%. A positive change of almost 30% is a significant increase, driven by brokers’ positive experiences with the lender

Broker Experience

Across the board, broker experiences with Westpac are better year-on-year. Broker experience rating is up to 78% satisfaction from 62% satisfaction.

Brokers’ experiences with BDMs show the least improvement, increasing from 61% to 71% satisfaction. However, broker satisfaction during the settlement process has increased massively, from 57% in September 2023 to 82% in September 2024.

It is notable that most stages in the broker experience journey show a recent drop in satisfaction, so it’s up to Westpac to make the most of their improved perception from the previous year and help make the broker experience more streamlined.

“Getting better and better with every loan submitted.”
“Improved tremendously over a year ago.”

Turnaround Times

Long turnaround times are the bane of a broker’s existence, so Westpac showing major improvements in this area goes a long way for overall broker satisfaction. Year-on-year, the lender has halved their average turnaround time, from an average of 8 business days in September 2023 to an average of 4 business days in September 2024.

Reducing turnaround times is a great way for a major lender to stand out from the competition and show brokers how they can offer a better experience for them and their clients. 

“Great turnaround time and rates.”
“Excellent communication and good turnaround times.”

Reasons for Choosing Westpac

Client circumstance is the most common reason a broker works with a major bank lender. For Westpac, it’s less clear-cut, as client circumstances and product pricing are neck and neck as the primary reason a broker recommends the lender to their clients. In September 2024, 59% of brokers said that the primary reason they recommended Westpac was the lender’s product pricing, though in August this was just 51%, and 44% in July. Meanwhile, client circumstances was the primary reason for 45% of brokers choosing Westpac in September, but it was the primary reason for 65% in August and 62% in July.

Brokers clearly find both factors compelling when choosing to work with Westpac. 

“Pricing is on point.”
“Still very strong. Recent improvement in pricing.”
“Consistently cheap and easy to use.”

Conclusion

Over the past 12 months, Westpac has clearly made efforts to improve the broker experience, resulting in a much-improved Net Promoter Score as well as improved broker experience and broker usage.

Brokers note that there are still areas where Westpac could be doing better, most commonly they are frustrated with simple errors that shouldn’t be occurring:

“Settlement process is still clunky with the team not reading notes, sending outstanding items for things that don't apply and/or ignoring previous documents sent.”
“Great assessor, terrible it errors with documents.”
“Complex applications are case managed, but staff are under-resourced and overworked.”

Brokers are keen to work with Westpac to deliver for their clients, but they need the lender to improve how they handle the interpersonal interactions between the lender staff and brokers. Nonetheless, with good pricing and improved turnaround times, Westpac holds its position as a reliable and competitive lender.