Macquarie posts 9% quarterly mortgage growth

Macquarie has reported that the bank’s home loan portfolio rose 9 per cent between September and December 2020, closing the calendar year at $62.6 billion.

The figures echo the findings of the December 2020 Residential Mortgage Activity report from NSW Land Registry Services, which had revealed that Macquarie had more than doubled its mortgages on NSW titles over the last 18 months.

Moreover, the bank has been particularly popular with the broker channel in recent months, with Momentum Intelligence’s Broker Pulse survey showing that Macquarie Bank has maintained its average of three days to initial credit decision, making it the lender with the quickest turnaround times.

According to an operational update from Macquarie Group, the banking and financial services (BFS) division’s total loan and lease portfolio – which comprises home loans, business loans, vehicle finance and credit cards – totalled $84.5 billion.

The group has also reported that the business banking loan portfolio increased by 5 per cent over the quarter to $9.4 billion.

However, these gains have been partially offset by runoff in vehicle financing (which includes general plant and equipment), with the portfolio recording a 3 per cent decrease on the previous quarter to total $12.0 billion.

As at the end of the calendar year 2020, 1.3 per cent of Macquarie Bank’s clients (by loan balance) were on repayment deferrals, with most clients having now resumed normal repayments.

At its peak, 13 per cent of BFS clients were accessing assistance.

The BFS division had total deposits of $76.3 billion at 31 December 2020, up 3 per cent on 30 September 2020.

Overall, the combined net profit contribution for Macquarie’s annuity-style businesses (both banking and asset management) was up 14 per cent.

While this was partially offset by banking margin pressure, increased credit impairment charges and higher costs to support clients as a result of the COVID-19 crisis, continued volume growth and strong trading activity meant that the bank is currently anticipating that the full financial year (ending March 2020 for Macquarie) will only be “slightly down” on FY20.

According to Macquarie Group, factors impacting the short-term outlook for the BFS division include ongoing monitoring of provisioning to support clients in the COVID-19 environment, and higher deposit and loan portfolio volumes in FY21.

Macquarie Bank CEO to retire

Macquarie Bank has also announced an executive reshuffle, including the retirement of its managing director and CEO.

After 22 years with Macquarie, Mary Reemst has decided to retire from her role as managing director and CEO of Macquarie Bank Ltd (MBL), from the MBL board, from Macquarie Group Ltd (MGL) and MBL executive committees, effective 1 July 2021.

Ms Reemst, who has been on the executive committees for seven years, also serves as the chair of the Macquarie Group Foundation.

From 1 July 2021, and subject to regulatory approvals, Stuart Green will become managing director and CEO of MBL, and join the MBL board and MGL and MBL executive committees.

Mr Green has been with Macquarie for 20 years, serving as group treasurer since August 2013.

Non-major reshuffles board

Macquarie Group and Macquarie Bank have also announced that Gordon Cairns will step down from both boards on 7 May 2021, after more than six years on the boards.

In November 2020, Mr Cairns had agreed to extend his tenure to “accommodate evolution of the boards”, which occurred with the appointment of Rebecca McGrath and Mike Roche in January 2021.

In addition, after 16 years with Macquarie, Martin Stanley has decided to step down as group head of Macquarie Asset Management and from the executive committee, effective 1 April 2021.

Mr Stanley, who has been on the executive committee for two years, will become chairman of Macquarie Asset Management and remain on the regional infrastructure fund investment committees and as chairman of the board of directors of the New York Stock Exchange-listed Macquarie Infrastructure Corp.

The asset manager has announced that Ben Way will become group head and join the executive committee.

Mr Way, who has been with Macquarie for 14 years and is a member of Macquarie’s management committee, currently leads the global alternatives division in Macquarie Asset Management and is also Macquarie Group’s Asia CEO.

Mr Way will continue to be based in Hong Kong.

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Malavika Santhebennur is the features editor on the mortgages titles at Momentum Media.

Before joining the team in 2019, Malavika held roles with Money Management and Benchmark Media. She has been writing about financial services for the past six years.