CUA has forecast that brokers will help drive “record levels of home loan issues” after reporting 5.2 per cent growth in loan volumes.
The credit union posted a net profit of $27.9 million for the six months to 31 December 2013, down from $34.1 million the year before.
To continue reading the rest of this article, please log in.
Looking for more benefits? Become a Premium Member.
Create free account to get unlimited news articles and more!
Looking for more benefits? Become a Premium Member.
The 18.2 per cent fall was mainly attributed to “significant one-off contributions” in the previous financial year.
CUA also reported that its volumes of new loans had risen by 5.2 per cent to $1 billion.
“Our solid loan growth over the period was principally driven by competitive pricing on our fixed and variable home loans, a strategy that also helped us achieve a record first half-year for home loan issues,” according to CUA.
The credit union’s general manager of distribution, Darrin Northey, said brokers played an important role in CUA’s success.
“Since re-entering the broker market in early 2012, we have seen a significant positive impact on our loan growth through brokers and currently around 35 per cent of our home loans are originated through our broker channel,” he told The Adviser.
“We are committed to advancing our processes to ensure it is easier and faster for brokers to do business with us and help them deliver an exceptional customer experience to their clients.
“We’re also constantly refining our support model which again will make it easier for brokers to work with us and enable them to keep track of an application through the various stages.”
Mr Northey also said CUA expected further growth from its loan book.
“Looking ahead to the end of FY2014, we remain on track to continue record levels of home loan issues; however, we also expect there to be continued higher-than-usual loan repayments which will temper that growth in line with system,” he said.