ANZ book bolstered by brokers

The major bank has released its financial results for the half-year ended 31 March 2023 (1H23), revealing that its loan book has grown following strong support from the third-party channel.

According to ANZ’s results, its Australian mortgage portfolio grew to $293 billion in the half, up 4 per cent on the same period the year before.

The half saw $43 billion of new loans written, up 22 per cent on 1H22.

The average new loan size also increased over the period, from $458,000 to $481,000, despite house prices having dropped over that time. The average loan-to-value ratio (LVR) also decreased in the half, falling to 64 per cent (from 70 per cent in 1H22).

Mortgage brokers originated nearly two-thirds of the new mortgages coming to ANZ, with 64 per cent written by the channel in 1H23.

This reflected an 11 percentage point increase (or 20 per cent rise) in broker flows from the same period last year. 

Mortgage brokers are now responsible for 52 per cent of ANZ’s total Australian mortgage portfolio. 

The increase in home lending helped drive revenue up 4 per cent on the prior half and 11 per cent when compared to 1H22.

Speaking of the home loan figures, ANZ chief executive Shayne Elliott said: “Australia retail grew home loans faster than the market, while also driving good growth in deposits. 

“We continued the roll-out of ANZ Plus, which had $6 billion of deposits at end-April from over 250,000 customers (30 per cent of which were new to bank), with 39 per cent new to bank in March.”

However, he flagged that the next six months “will be more difficult than the last”.

“Competition in retail banking is as intense as it has ever been, both in Australia and New Zealand. We understand that sustained higher inflation and interest rates create further challenges for some households and businesses across the economy. While the number of ANZ customers in difficulty remains low, we stand ready to help in these potentially challenging times,” he said. 

“We enter the next half with a business structure that brings the benefits of geographic and product diversification. We have a robust capital position, credit loss provisions higher than any other time pre-COVID-19, a strong and diverse deposit base and a track record of execution. We are seeing continued momentum and high employee engagement across all four divisions, each with a clear strategy and a funded roadmap for growth. 

“As the world is changing rapidly, ANZ is well placed to deploy our people and capital to help those facing challenges, but also support those looking for opportunities.”

ANZ brought in a record $10.5 billion in revenue in the half and released an audited statutory profit after tax for the six months to March of $3.5 billion, flat on the prior comparable period. 

Mr Elliott said all four businesses (institutional, New Zealand, Australia retail, and Australia commercial) had contributed in a positive way to the result.

[Related: ACCC to rule on ANZ-Suncorp merger in June 2023]