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The Australian Consumer Competition Commission wants to know what the non-bank mortgage market thinks of the National Australia Bank’s $385 million planned acquisition of Challenger.
According to a report in The Australian Financial Review, some mortgage aggregators, brokers and originators have been receiving letters from the competition regulator, which suggests it might be preparing to block the deal as anti-competitive.
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The ACCC wants to make sure there is still competition in the sector and that NAB won’t drop lenders from the aggregator platforms.
Matt Lawler, NAB Broker’s executive general manager has repeatedly stated that the acquisition will not influence the impartiality of PLAN, FAST or Choice members nor will it show any favouritism to the groups when it comes to NAB products.
“This is not an acquisition where you get two business and you combine them. We want the businesses to stand alone and continue to do what they have done in the past.
“Australians can rest assured that we won’t be secretly forcing any of the brokers to use our products," he told Mortgage Business.
The regulator is unlikely to get an alarmed response from brokers, as all indications are that brokers are largely happy with the purchase plan.
According to The Australian Financial Review brokers approve of the Challenger/NAB deal because it gives the bank more of an incentive to support current commissions structures.
