Macquarie to launch new products

Speaking to Mortgage Business's sister publication The Adviser, Doug Lee, Macquarie Bank head of sales and distribution, intermediaries, said the lender is currently in the process of delivering a core banking platform, which will deliver a number of new products - including a transactional banking account - while simplifying, streamlining and centralising Macquarie’s product offering and transactional capabilities. 

“Next year Macquarie will launch its core banking and digital platforms, in which the broker will be able to distribute and the customer will benefit from a financial services offering that will incorporate mortgage, transaction savings account and credit card,” Mr Lee said. 

“It will enable us to offer customers improved functionality and an enhanced client and broker experience across all loan products and services.”

The non-major lender re-entered the third-party channel in 2011 and now boasts a mortgage portfolio of $27 billion.

A trading update this week shows that Macquarie’s Australian mortgage book has grown by 44.1 per cent over the last year, from $17 billion in 2013-14 to $24.5 billion in 2014-15.

Meanwhile, the bank’s retail deposits are up by 12.0 per cent, from 33.3 billion in 2013-14 to 37.3 billion in 2014-15.

Macquarie’s recent Mortgage Benchmarking Report highlighted the continued shift towards diversification with new revenue streams from commercial lending, insurance and financial planning.

“Customers are increasingly looking to and expecting a broker to offer them additional products and services,” Mr Lee said.

“Commercial lending is also a growing area of interest for a number of lenders and therefore there may be an increased number of lenders offering commercial loans in the third-party space.”

Meanwhile the market continues to adapt to regulatory changes that have resulted in differentiated pricing.

Macquarie announced a number of credit policy changes last month, including SMSF interest-only loans with a maximum LVR of 70 per cent, net assets requirements for SMSFs and requirements for refinance statements and PAYG package arrangements.

Macquarie has seen one of the highest growth rates of all Australian banks for its investor mortgages. However, with discounted rates on owner-occupied home loans hitting the market, competition is heating up.

”We are already seeing increased competition for owner occupied loans, particularly around rates and we expect this to continue,” Mr Lee said.