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Macquarie Bank has revealed its mortgage portfolio has grown by almost 50 per cent in 2014-15, approximately four years after re-entering the third-party channel.
The bank revealed at its annual general meeting yesterday that its mortgage portfolio – which it claims represents 1.7 per cent of Australia’s total mortgage market – increased by 44 per cent to $27 billion in FY15, including a 10 per cent increase in the June 2015 quarter alone.
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Macquarie Bank also grew its net profit by 10 per cent over the year to $285 million. Its business banking portfolio increased 27 per cent to $5.2 billion, while its wealth management portfolio posted a 19 per cent gain, rising to $48 billion.
More broadly, Macquarie Group boosted its overall profit by 27 per cent to $1.6 billion, while its operating income rose by 14 per cent to a record $9.3 billion.
Macquarie Bank revealed earlier this year that it would continue to bolster its share of the Australian mortgage market through its relationships with brokers and white-label partners, highlighting it as one of the bank’s key strengths.
Macquarie noted that its strong intermediary relationships were the result of “skilled BDMs with a high touch approach”.
The bank has white-label agreements with Real Home Loans, Mortgage Choice and Homeloans, and highlighted its further investment in Yellow Brick Road through the acquisition of Vow and Resi as evidence of its commitment to an aggressive third-party play.
A top loan writer with Macquarie revealed to The Adviser last year how the lender has managed to drive significant volumes through the third-party channel.
Finance Made Easy director Tony Bice is part of a select group of Macquarie's top 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 said.
“They then use all that information to tailor their mortgage model so it reflects what brokers want from a bank.”
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 explained.
“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.”
According to Mr Bice, what makes Macquarie’s BDMs preferable for brokers is their strong credit background and accessibility.
“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.”
[Related: Macquarie's meteoric rise]
