Turnaround times bounce across big 4

Processing lags for mortgage applications have persisted, with turnaround times increasing across all four major banks, the latest Broker Pulse research has revealed.

According to Momentum Intelligence’s latest Broker Pulse statistics – which involves a monthly survey of sentiment towards lenders across the third-party channel – turnaround times for home loan applications increased across each of the big four banks over the month of July.  

ANZ continues to trail the pack, with its turnaround times increasing for the fifth consecutive month, from an average of 26 business days in June to 27 business days as at 31 July.

However, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) and Westpac Group recorded the sharpest monthly increases, up by an average of three business days to nine business days and 14 business days, respectively.

Meanwhile, NAB’s turnaround times increased from an average of nine business days in June to 10 business days.

As a result, surveyed brokers downgraded the net promoter scores (NPS) of all four majors.

ANZ received the lowest NPS rating (-67), followed by NAB (-33), Westpac (-31) and CBA (0).

This follows research from online broking platform Lendi, which found that processing lags cost refinancers over $10 million in interest savings over the first five months of 2020.  

The big four banks have publicly acknowledged the recent blowouts in their turnaround times, with ANZ, NAB and Westpac recently introducing changes to their lending processes, which have included the onshoring, onboarding and relocation of staff.

Of the major banks, only Westpac experienced an increase in its share of lodgement activity among surveyed brokers (broker usage), up from 17 per cent in June to 22 per cent in July.

Conversely, ANZ recorded the second consecutive fall in broker usage, down from 55 per cent to 50 per cent.

The share of brokers sending applications to CBA and NAB was unchanged in July at 48 per cent and 29 per cent, respectively.

The Broker Pulse data suggests that demand for the big four banks may be waning after strong growth over the June quarter in response to a spike in refinancing activity amid the COVID-19 crisis.