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Onboarding 2,000 mortgage brokers has boosted its first-half loan book, the customer-owned bank has confirmed.
Brokers are “increasingly important to our customer base”, Great Southern Bank has highlighted, as it revealed its 1H23 performance figures.
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Released on Thursday (2 March), the bank said it had continued its “strong support” for first home buyers (FHB) in the first half of the financial year and confirmed it had issued $1.89 billion in new home loans in that time frame.
Attributing much of the success this half to the third-party channel, Great Southern Bank chief executive and managing director Paul Lewis said that 2,000 new mortgage brokers were onboarded over the past six months and that they “have been key to that momentum, with an increasing number of Australians choosing to visit a broker for their home loan.”
Specifically, the bank confirmed that 18,945 new customers had joined in the six months to 31 December 2022, which was 6.6 per cent more than the same period last year.
Mr Lewis added that strong lending to first home buyers had “been a standout”, with the bank supporting around 2 per cent of all Australian first-time home buyers.
“In the first half of the year we helped twice as many first home buyers compared to our overall market share,” Mr Lewis said.
“Our forward momentum is strong, with December being one of our biggest-ever months for issuing home loans.
“The 2,000 new mortgage brokers we’ve onboarded over the past six months have been key to that momentum, with an increasing number of Australians choosing to visit a broker for their home loan.”
Notably, in the past six months, the bank outlined that it had created more than 1,100 payment plans and hardship arrangements “to help customers experiencing financial difficulties.”
Increased loan flow via mortgage brokers
Emphasising the value and influence the third-party channel had on the bank’s latest results, a Great Southern spokesperson told The Adviser: “Brokers are increasingly important to our customer base.”
In April the bank had set a deliberate target of “doubling broker numbers” during the calendar year, which it achieved around October and now Great Southern has about 6,000 brokers, they explained.
“We increased the brokers as increasing numbers of people want to buy via brokers,” they added.
“We’ve been onboarding some great broker groups during the year including Lendi Group and Domain Home Loan brands and Specialist Finance Group.
“We’ve made significant enhancements to our services over the last 24 months, and all brokers accredited with Great Southern Bank are experiencing the benefits of using our new lending platform.”
According to the bank, many loan applications are unconditionally approved with 48 hours of being lodged.
“Significant improvements in our processes mean Great Southern Bank can now have documents in their customers’ inbox almost immediately after formal approval, ready for electronic signing via Docusign,” they stated.
An even younger cohort getting a mortgage now
In line with its purpose of “helping all Australians to own their own home”, the bank reported continued strong lending through the government-backed Home Guarantee Scheme.
During the 1H23 period, Great Southern said it helped around 1,350 singles, couples, or families to purchase a home through the scheme.
Customers also benefitted from a reduction in the average time it takes to agree to a home loan to 4.4 days, with around half of all home loans “now agreed within two days,” the bank confirmed.
Also, in excess of $1.9 million in customer fraud losses were prevented, while the bank also increased its investment in cyber security to protect customers’ accounts and personal information, it stated.
“Our successful rebrand is helping us to attract first home buyers and younger customers, with an average age for new customers of 27,” Mr Lewis said.
“More than half of our new customers for the period were under 18, with our competitive youth accounts proving incredibly popular with families.
“The genuine savings journey we’ve built to guide people from their first job [Goal Saver] through to saving for a home deposit [Home Saver] and eventually, buying their first home, is also supporting younger customers.”
Overall, the bank recorded a net profit after tax (NPAT) of $31.65 million with “strong results reflecting a combination of factors” including the financial benefit of bringing forward significant investment costs into the prior financial year as well as “strong cost and margin management.”
Net interest income (NII) for the bank increased to $181.89 million, it confirmed.
“As a customer-owned bank, all our profits are reinvested in our business,” Mr Lewis assured.
“This solid profit result means we can continue to improve our service for customers, invest in our small business banking offering which will introduce more Australians to customer-owned banking, and puts us in a good position coming into a potentially more challenging second half.”
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