Broker sentiment split among major banks

Findings from Broker Daily’s survey – Which banks back brokers – have found a divide in sentiment between the big four major banks, with more positive sentiment leaning towards National Australia Bank (NAB) and ANZ.

This survey was commissioned by Broker Daily and conducted by Broker Pulse, the lending insights division of Agile Market Intelligence, which surveyed 679 mortgage and finance brokers about how the major banks shaped the view of the third-party channel in the eyes of the public and their intentions of continuing use of the lenders.

According to the findings, NAB garnered the most favourable response from brokers, with 37 per cent of respondents indicating that they believed that NAB had a “positive impact” (28 per cent) or a “significant positive impact” (9 per cent) in regard to their stance and impact on the mortgage broking channel in the eyes of the Australian public.

Following this was ANZ, with 25 per cent of brokers feeling that the bank has made a positive impact on the industry (5 per cent for “significantly positive” and 20 per cent for “positive”).

In terms of intended use or recommendations of the particular lender, 22 per cent of brokers said they would start or increase their use of NAB, while 58 per cent said they intended to make no change.

Meanwhile, 14 per cent of brokers said they would increase their use of ANZ, while 64 per cent indicated no change.

However, much like sentiments towards CBA that were highlighted in the preliminary results, sentiments towards Westpac skewed into negative territory.

Almost three-quarters of brokers (73 per cent) believed that Westpac has had a “negative” (39 per cent) or “significantly negative” (34 per cent) impact on the third-party channel, while 56 per cent of respondents said they would like to decrease their use or stop using Westpac altogether.

While sentiments towards NAB and ANZ were generally positive in comparison to their counterparts, anonymous testimonials from mortgage and finance brokers highlighted a generally critical view of the big four banks as a whole.

One respondent said: “While CBA and Westpac are by far the worst, I believe the big four all work in unison.

“The other two [NAB & ANZ] will watch and see what happens. Best thing we as brokers can do to ensure the longevity of our industry is to support the smaller lenders.”

Another said: “Banks will see to squeeze brokers out and then competition will be reduced.”

One residential mortgage broker urged that brokers need to stop supporting banks that do not support the broking industry.

“NAB and ANZ need to stump up and publicly support the broker industry,” they said.

If you’d like to find out more about the survey, tune in to the latest Broker Daily Uncut episode below:

Adrian Suljanovic is a journalist at Broker Daily with more than two years experience reporting on all facets of the third party distribution channel.

Adrian has written for a range of business and finance titles including IFA, Investor Daily and Lawyer’s Weekly before joining the mortgages team in 2022.

He graduated from the University of Wollongong in 2021 gaining a Bachelor of Communication & Media with a major in Digital & Social Media.

E-mail Adrian at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.