Net promoter scores up for top lenders

The gap between broker applications sent to majors and non-majors is closing in, and net promoter scores may show why.

A total of 156 brokers participated in this month’s Broker Pulse survey, conducted between January 10-14, 2022. According to the results, the majority of top lenders gained more promoters than detractors in December, a good way to close the year.

Net promoter scores or NPS reflects the difference between a company’s number of promoters and detractors. From these values, we deep dive into how lenders closed 2021 according to broker respondents' overall perception of their services.

Major Banks

For CBA, “Processes have improved 10-fold from earlier in the year”, one of the broker respondents pointed out.

CBA recovered a substantial fraction of broker-lodged applications in December, as their share leapt from 40% in November to 46% in December. This had been CBAs largest chunk of broker flows since July of 2021. Still, the bank was able to keep their average turnarounds to 6 business days.

Hence, it is not surprising for the major to receive substantial improvements in their net promoter score. From only 24 points in October, CBA’s NPS continuously rose and is now at +39, the fourth-highest score among top lenders.

Unfortunately, the case is different for NAB. From garnering a net promoter score of 33 in November, it is now down to 21. Turnarounds may have influenced this rating, as it has also stretched for the lender by 4 business days, now sitting at 11 business days on average.

While ANZ and Westpac also stretched their turnarounds, it was only up by 1 business day at the maximum, and their NPS still climbed 38 and 16 points, respectively, relative to the previous month. ANZ now stands with an NPS of -18, while Westpac soars a bit higher, although still on the negative end, at -7.

Non-majors

Despite its fall from the top spot in terms of broker flows, Macquarie maintains its lead in NPS among most used lenders with a rating of +80, its highest since April 2021.

Bankwest also joins this month’s top NPS gainers, as the non-major saw its NPS rise by 33 points to 59 last December, its highest since May 2020.

Meanwhile, St. George Banking Group, which is now in its 2-month streak in the top 5, is up  4 points to reach -30.

However, the NPS for the non-major is still on the negative end. It also continues to struggle with its turnaround times which is now at 13 days, longer by 2 days the month prior.

Adelaide and ING were a different story. Both of the lenders’ NPS dipped significantly in December, with the former dipping by 17 points, now down to +19. This follows after the non-major landed its all-time high NPS the previous month.

ING, on the other hand, endured a sharp 16-point drop in NPS and now sits at +34, its lowest NPS since the start of 2021. The bank also showed an extreme blowout in turnarounds after it averaged to 12 business days in December, up from only 5 business days the month prior.

Large Non-banks

As for large non-ADIs, net promoter scores remain on the positive end of the spectrum, just as they had all year long.

Advantedge consistently takes the lead with a current NPS of +60, a steady broker usage rate of 15%, and an even shorter turnaround of 4 business days.

AFG Home Loans then follow with a net promoter score of +50, and then Pepper Money with +40.

At 4th place in terms of NPS, Liberty Financial also stands out as the most improved large non-bank, after its NPS jumped 25 points, from +11 in November to +36 in December.

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