Brokers ‘fundamental’ in Macquarie’s strong loan growth

Total loans grew by 0.4 per cent over October, climbing from $2.24 trillion to 2.25 trillion. This was comprised of $1.53 trillion in owner-occupied loans (up 0.5 per cent) and $720 billion in investor loans (up 0.4 per cent).

The Monthly Authorised Deposit-taking Institution Statistics from APRA also highlighted the total loans of the majors. The major with the strongest growth came from Australia’s largest loan book, CBA. The top bank grew its total loans from $568 billion to 571 billion over the month, a 0.54 per cent increase.

Following was Westpac that saw loans jump from $475 billion to $476 billion. The second-largest loan book saw the most subdued growth over the month, climbing 0.19 per cent.

Next was NAB, with a 0.44 per cent increase, climbing $321 billion to $323 billion. ANZ saw similar growth, rising from $304 billion to $306 billion, a 0.46 per cent increase.

Despite the solid growth of the majors, one bank is hot on their tails with larger growth. Macquarie is becoming an increasingly popular choice for loans, with its books rising from $126 billion to $128 billion. This was a 1.63 per cent increase over October, over three times the growth of the other majors.

Macquarie has seen consistent growth over the last few years, well above that of the majors. As reported by Broker Daily back in July, Macquarie’s loan books grew 12.5 per cent between June 2023 and June 2024.

Wendy Brown, head of broker sales at Macquarie, said that the broker channel has been crucial in enabling this growth.

“The broker channel has been fundamental in enabling us to prudently grow our home loans business to where it is today – as the fifth largest lender, and with brokers accounting for more than 90 per cent of Macquarie home loan originations,” she said.

“We have been and will continue to be vocal about the crucial role brokers play in the home loan market and our view that brokers underpin choice, competition and lower prices for Australian households.

“We’ve had a clear and consistent strategy over many years to be a committed partner to brokers in Australia and we’ll continue to make our support to the channel real by continuing to invest in people, processes and technology to enhance experiences for both brokers and customers.”

Last month’s ADI results saw the bank grow its loan books by 1.49 per cent over the month of September. In the last year, its numbers have climbed from $112 billion to its present $128 billion – an increase of 14 per cent.

With the gap between Macquarie and the majors getting smaller each year, there could be a time in the not-too-distant future when we refer to the five major banks in Australia.

Related: ADI loan books maintain steady growth in September

Jack Campbell is the editor of Broker Daily. After graduating from the University of Wollongong in 2022, Jack began his journalistic career working on Broker Daily’s sister brand, HR Leader. In August 2023 he was made the news editor and worked alongside some talented journalists writing articles and recording podcasts.

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