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The non-major lender has signed onto the lender panel of major brokerage Aussie, with brokers able to offer the loans from mid-May.
Aussie has welcomed the Bank of Queensland (BOQ) onto its lender panel, making it the latest regional bank to partner with the brokerage.
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BOQ home loans will be made available to customers through Aussie brokers from “mid-May” 2021.
Aussie CEO James Symond stated that BOQ was “a welcome addition that provides greater choice for [Aussie] brokers and their customers”.
“When a customer speaks to their local Aussie broker, they are looking for choice,” he said.
“For almost 30 years we regularly review our lender panel to actively respond to our customer needs and provide them with options.
“The addition of BOQ’s products to Aussie’s lender panel delivers on that commitment,” Mr Symond added.
The major brokerage currently has around 23 lenders on its panel, with Mr Symond stating that customers are “looking for more options” in the hot property market.
“It’s important that our Aussie brokers are able to access and offer a broad range of home lending solutions to better serve more customers and ultimately grow their own businesses,” he said.
“We’re thrilled to be able to respond to this demand and add a quality player like BOQ to our hand-selected panel,” Mr Symond said.
BOQ Group’s managing director and CEO, George Frazis, commented: “BOQ is proud to be partnering with Aussie to help more Australians achieve their dream of owning their own home.
“We share Aussie’s commitment to providing customers with greater choice and offer a range of competitive lending products to suit everyone – from first home buyers to experienced investors.
“Over the past year, we have significantly enhanced our broker proposition by introducing new tools and processes that support brokers to deliver a faster time to conditional yes for their customers.
“At its core, banking is about relationships, and we are excited by the opportunity to work alongside Aussie to connect with more Australians and make their home buying experience simpler and easier,” Mr Frazis said.
The non-major lender recently released its financial results for the first half of the 2021 financial year (1HFY21), in which it reported lending growth of $1.065 billion as at 28 February 2021, up from $782 million in 1HFY20.
The growth was driven by a $997-million increase in housing lending in 1H21, representing annualised growth of 6.5 per cent on 2H20, or 1.6 times system growth.
The non-major bank said that 23 per cent of its portfolio was originated by the broker channel, up from 20 per cent in 1H20 and 21 per cent in 2H20.
Commenting on the broker channel performance during a webcast where he discussed the results, the BOQ CEO said that while new loan flows via the broker channel was around 35 per cent, “at the market level, it’s probably close to 50 per cent”.
Mr Frazis said that while settlements through the broker channel had “accelerated”, it “still only” represents 35 per cent of the group’s flow.
“We would like for that to increase and that will continue,” he said.
Elaborating further on BOQ Group’s focus on increasing broker share in the mortgages’ portfolio, BOQ Group interim group executive group Chris Screen told The Adviser that in the broader market, brokers facilitate around 60 per cent of all new residential mortgages, and said BOQ “has not traditionally participated at that level in its broker network”.
He added that the bank has increasingly focused on the broker channel in the last couple of years and that it would continue to build relationships with brokers while also digitising the mortgages process, spearheaded by general manager BOQ Broker, Kathy Cummings.
“We’ve made some inroads already. But there is still substantial opportunity for us in the broker channel, given the amount of flows that comes from that channel across the industry,” he said.
[Related: BOQ records broker loan growth]
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