Macquarie has 5% of mortgage market

ASX-listed financial services group Macquarie Group has released its interim financial results for the first half of the financial year 2024 (ended September 2023), revealing that its personal banking loan book grew 6 per cent on March 2023 figures, taking it to $114.2 billion. This was also up $4.4 billion on the June quarter.

Macquarie now has approximately 5.1 per cent of the Australian mortgage market (and approximately 1.8 million customers) and is the fifth-largest mortgage lender behind the major banks. The next largest lender ANZ has a book of around $285 billion.

Macquarie has been rapidly growing its presence in the mortgage market in the past few years, having benefited from fast approval times and a strong technology piece, which particularly benefited it during the pandemic.

According to Macquarie, the bank’s mortgage growth was driven by “strong demand in lower loan-to-value ratio (LVR) and owner-occupier lending tiers”. Its average LVR at origination is 65 per cent.

Around two-thirds of its book is for owner-occupied lending, with just 17 per cent being fixed-rate loans.

The business banking loan portfolio grew 12 per cent over the six months, rising from $13 billion to $14.6 billion. This was driven by an increase in client acquisition across core segments and a continued build into emerging segments.

However, its car loan portfolio totalled $5.2 billion at September 2023, down 15 per cent from the $6.1 billion in March 2023, despite it seeing continued growth in electric vehicle settlement volumes.

As such, its total retail banking and financial services business had a total loan portfolio of $134.4 billion at the end of September.

The division delivered a net profit contribution of $638 million, up 10 per cent from $580 million in 1H23 as a result of the uptick in lending, higher deposits and improved average margins.

However, this was partially offset by higher credit impairment charges and higher costs due to increased headcount and technology investment to support business growth and regulatory requirements as well as inflationary pressure.

Former APRA chair joins bank board

As well as announcing its half-year results, Macquarie Group revealed that Wayne Byres, the former chairman of the prudential regulator, has been named as an incoming member of the Macquarie Bank board.

Mr Byres, who worked at APRA as chair until John Lonsdale took over the role in October 2022, has been named as a non-executive director of Macquarie Bank Limited, effective 1 February 2024 (subject to completion of necessary approvals).

He will become one of three bank-only non-executive directors (BONDs) following the retirement of Michael Coleman in mid-2024. The other two BONDs are Ian Saines and David Whiteing (who was appointed last month).

Macquarie said Mr Byres will “contribute to strengthening the voice of MBL within the group”.

“Mr Byres brings significant experience in domestic and international bank regulation and governance as a former chair of APRA and secretary-general of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision,” the bank said in a statement.

“He also served as APRA’s representative on the Reserve Bank of Australia’s Payments System Board. More recently, Mr Byres has been working in an advisory capacity with the International Monetary Fund.”

[Related: APRA stats reveal another drop in CBA mortgage book]