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The second annual Third-Party Lending Report: Commercial Lending, published by Agile Market Intelligence, revealed that 93 per cent of commercial brokers rate product policy as an important attribute when making lender recommendations.
The quality of credit assessment staff and business development managers (BDMs) closely followed, rated as important by 92 per cent and 90 per cent of brokers, respectively.
The findings are based on a survey of 723 mortgage, finance, and commercial brokers conducted between 17 February and 30 April 2026.
Brokers were asked to rate the importance of 14 factors, split into four categories, when it came to recommending a lender to a client:
The criteria were:
- Personnel: BDMs, call centre support, credit assessment staff.
- Products: Product policy, product pricing, product range.
- Support: Broker communication and training, channel commitment, settlement, post-settlement support.
- Technology: Application lodgement, broker portal, digital tools, document submission.
Respondents were asked to rate each attribute by importance from 1 (not important at all) to 5 (extremely important).
The Third-Party Lending Report’s overall rankings are based on the average score achieved across all attributes within each lender category.
Credit assessment quality the key attractor for brokers
While product policy was found to be the most important attribute when brokers recommend a lender to their business clients, credit assessment and BDM quality were close behind, cited as important attributes for 92 per cent and 90 per cent of brokers, respectively.
In addition to this, whether it be for commercial mortgages, business loans, or asset finance, credit assessment staff were consistently among the top three factors when brokers recommend a lender to a commercial client.
Indeed, credit assessment staff were the top attribute for business loans at 91 per cent. The remaining two spots were occupied by either product policy or BDMs.
Top commercial lenders revealed
To understand which lenders brokers were using for commercial finance needs, the report also calculated overall rankings based on the average score achieved across all attributes within specific lender categories.
The top-performing lenders across the industry sectors included:
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Asset and equipment finance: Metro Finance led the asset finance segment with a score of 84 per cent.
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Major banks: Westpac took the top spot for commercial finance among the big four banks, with a rating of 76 per cent.
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Non-major banks: ING led the category for business finance among the non-major banks, with a score of 80 per cent.
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Specialist lenders: RedZed claimed the lead for specialist business lenders, with a score of 79 per cent.
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Business lenders: Lumi ranked first for business/cash flow lending, with a score of 79 per cent.
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Consumer and personal finance: MoneyMe secured the highest score at 80 per cent.
Speaking of the findings, Michael Johnson, head of Agile Market Intelligence, said: “Clarity on product policy is crucial in commercial lending.
“Product policy that is well-defined across key market segments gives brokers the confidence to act quickly and recommend decisively. Pair this with an exceptional credit assessment team and proactive BDMs and lenders can really separate themselves in the commercial market.”
The full, interactive report is now available from Agile Market Intelligence.
[Related: Product policy tops broker recommendations]
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