NAB-owned brokers gain market share

In the full year to 30 September the three aggregators increased their settlements by 21.1 per cent to $21.2 billion, while brokers under NAB’s white-label aggregator agreements climbed 12.2 per cent to 4,691.

The bank forecast that it would increase this number by 45 per cent to 6,800 by the end of 2014/2015.

NAB's mortgage lending jumped 12.6 per cent to $249.6 billion, with broker volumes increasing by 13.9 per cent.

Mortgage revenue grew 2.5 per cent to $1.8 billion, while NAB increased its market share from 15.3 to 15.4 per cent.

Morningstar analyst David Ellis said the group’s mortgage lending is consistently profitable and accounted for 57 per cent of total loans and 36 per cent of total assets in September.

“Pricing is opaque as higher advertised rates are discounted for customers, and mortgage interest rate changes tend to be matched by competitors,” Mr Ellis said.

NAB’s mortgage portfolio includes a lower proportion of first home buyers and low-doc loans compared to its two bigger, retail-focused peers, CBA and Westpac, he added.

The group’s strong mortgage growth was overshadowed by a fall in cash earnings following substantial write-downs of its troubled UK business.

Overall it was another disappointing year, with cash earnings down 10 per cent to $5.2 billion, Mr Ellis said.

“The disappointing fall in profit is due primarily to the $1.5 billion after tax in UK conduct provisions and other impairments thought necessary by new CEO Andrew Thorburn,” Mr Ellis said.

However, Mr Ellis noted that, excluding one-off write-downs, cash earnings increased 12 per cent over the year.