Macquarie and UBank lead on turnaround times, but delays with smaller players

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, Macquarie and CBA dominate broker usage
ANZ retains its top position with 53% of brokers submitting deals through the lender. Macquarie places second with a 45% market share, enjoying an uptick from last month’s 43%. This demonstrates its enduring appeal due to reliable service and competitive turnaround times. CBA joins them at third with 36% broker usage, overtaking Westpac and NAB.

Among the non-majors, ING (23%) and Bankwest (23%) attracted strong broker interest, with their consistent service levels resonating with intermediaries. Firstmac (9%) led the charge among non-bank lenders, as they provide a key option for brokers seeking flexible solutions for niche borrower needs.

Decision drivers

Client fit and product pricing lead lender selection
Client circumstances, together with product pricing remained the top factors influencing broker recommendations across all lender categories. For major banks, 74% of brokers cited client circumstances as a core driver, followed by product pricing (46%) and client preference follows behind (28%), dropping a couple of percentages from last month.

Interestingly, for non-major ADIs product pricing is the leading factor (73%), with a solid lead over client circumstances. For non-banks, ‘client circumstances’ is the leading decision driver (83%). Turnaround times continue to be a reason for choosing lenders in the case of majors and non-majors. This reflects the growing value brokers place on streamlined processes, particularly in a tight-lending and high-volume environment.

Turnaround times

Macquarie and UBank set the pace, but delays persist for smaller players

Large ADIs
Macquarie Bank once again led the major banks with the fastest average turnaround at 1.8 business days, followed by Bankwest (2.9 days) and Bendigo Bank (3.0 days). ANZ trailed at 4.5, along with NAB with a longer 4.4 days, compared to their performance last month.

Small ADIs
In the small ADIs category, UBank topped the list at 2.0 days, making it a standout for brokers needing swift approvals. MyState and P&N delivered impressive performance in around 2.5 and 3.0 days, respectively securing their top spots. Auswide Bank saw a large slow down as reports show 11.0 turnaround times for this month, and People’s Choice remained at 11.0 days. Heritage Bank managed to reduce their turnaround time by 2 days, now sitting with still a long way to go at 14.8 days. HSBC, Beyond Bank and Teachers Mutual Bank also reported some slow downs this month.

Non-ADIs
Among non-banks, AFG Home Loans and Bluestone Home Loans led the pack with an average of 3.4 business days, and 4.1 days matching top-performing banks. Liberty Financial and Pepper Money also delivered at 4.3 days and 4.4 days, respectfully. At the slower end, La Trobe Financial averaged 9.0 days, making it the least responsive in this segment, adding more to its last month’s average of 7.1 days. Across the board, an increase in turnaround times has been observed this month for non-ADIs. 

Broker experience

Macquarie, Great Southern Bank, and Connective Home Loans win broker trust

Large ADIs
Macquarie Bank continues to provide the best broker experience with a three-month average broker experience rating of 95%. Bankwest follows behind closely at 93% broker experience rating respectively. Among Large ADI's, AMP Bank and Suncorp Bank have improved their broker experience ratings this month, while ANZ, Bankwest, Bendigo Bank, ING, Macquarie Bank, ME Bank, NAB, and St.George Banking Group have experienced decline in broker experience ratings this month.

Small ADIs
Beyond Bank is now leading small ADIs in broker experience, with a 3-month average of 93% satisfaction. P&N Bank (89%) and Great Southern Bank (88%) also earned high broker approval. Heritage Bank and People’s Choice are experiencing ratings at 43% and 48%, respectively, requiring immediate attention.

Non-ADIs
Connective Home Loans kept its top spot in the non-bank space with 91% satisfaction, losing a few points from last month with a decline in settlement satisfaction. RedZed followed closely for overall satisfaction at 89%. Advantedge (83%) and Liberty Financial (82%) have also kept their broker approvals afloat, despite some decline in scores compared to the previous month.

Broker insights on BDMs and credit teams

Bankwest leads in BDM satisfaction and Macquarie takes top spot in credit assessment performance
Bankwest ranked top for BDM experience scoring 97% satisfaction. ME Bank’s BDM performance was also outstanding at 96%. For less commonly used ADIs, Bank Australia and P&N Bank received scores of 100% for BDM satisfaction, joining them is RedZed from the non-bank space. Auswide Bank and Heritage Bank are receiving high dissatisfaction scores, adding to their list of areas for improvement.

Macquarie retained the top spot for credit assessor performance with a 94% satisfaction score, Suncorp Bank performed well taking the second place at 89%. For smaller banks, UBank, MyState, Bank Australia and Beyond Bank all enjoyed above 89% satisfaction scores. Heritage Bank showed very low ratings this month, with 67% dissatisfied with their credit assessors. In the non-ADI segment, Advantedge takes the lead with a solid 88% satisfaction.

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About the report

The July 2025 edition of Broker Pulse is based on responses from 285 residential brokers, collected between 1 and 18 August 2025. Brokers were asked to share their experiences with the lenders they worked with throughout July, 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 https://www.brokerpulse.com.au/‍