Secrets to Macquarie mortgage success revealed

The media-shy lender is notoriously secretive about its mortgage strategy, which has seen its loan book grow 37.8 per cent over the past financial year to $24 billion.

But now a leading broker has shared details about Macquarie’s aggressive strategy and how it has won the trust of brokers.

Finance Made Easy director Tony Bice is part of a select group of top Macquarie loan writers who meet a couple of times a year with bank executives to discuss the biggest issues impacting the third-party space.

“They get all of us large-volume writers of Macquarie Bank business in a room and delve down and really try and understand what makes a broker tick,” Mr Bice told Mortgage Business.

“They then use all that information to tailor their mortgage model so it reflects what brokers want from a bank,” he said.

Mr Bice believes the key to Macquarie’s success is the quality of its BDMs.

“I’ve been writing mortgages for a long time and I’ve seen BDMs come and go,” he said.

“I don’t care what anybody says – the volume of business that you give a bank is directly proportionate to the assistance you get and the relationship you have with that BDM.”

What makes Macquarie’s BDMs preferable for brokers is their strong credit background and accessibility, Mr Bice said.

“The Macquarie BDMs will actually go and fight for you in credit,” he said.

“It is not uncommon for me to ring my BDM and he will be in the assessor’s office talking about a deal of mine. It’s the little things like that that have given them the success that they enjoy today.”

The quality of the bank’s broker support has been noticed right across the industry.

In The Adviser’s annual non-major bank rankings, Macquarie usurped ING Direct for the top spot in both the BDM and credit assessment staff categories.

“The one thing they’re excelling at is the turnaround times,” says Outsource Financial chief executive Tanya Sale.

“Their BDMs are the best in the business,” Ms Sale says.

“Macquarie has clearly gone out and uncovered and recruited the top BDMs in the industry and that has paid back tenfold for them.”