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Jessica Darnbrough
One of Australia’s majors has been named lender of the year for 2012 at the annual Australian Lending Awards hosted in Sydney last night.
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In an awards ceremony hosted at the Sofitel Wenworth, the Commonwealth Bank was given top honours on the night for its consistently strong approach to mortgage lending.
In what was a closely fought contest, the Commonwealth Bank swept the awards, collecting the 2012 Mortgage Lender of the Year awards as well as Best Third Party Lender and Best Innovator.
The Commonwealth Bank’s general manager mortgage wealth James Sheffield was also honoured as Thought Leader of the Year.
Speaking to The Adviser, Mr Sheffield said he was humbled by the win.
"The team at CBA are diligent, hard working and, above all else, passionate. The customer is as the centre of everything we do at the bank and we will continue to enhance our customer proposition wherever possible.”
According to The Adviser’s group publisher Alex Whitlock, the 2012 Australian Lending Awards provides invaluable insight into which institutions are at the forefront of Australia’s mortgage lending industry.
“The Australian mortgage market is the envy of the world right now and it is important to give recognition to the institutions who are leading the field,” he said.
“Australian borrowers have genuine choice when it comes to their home loan, thanks to a competitive and robust lending industry – but picking the right lender is becoming increasingly perplexing.
“Borrowers have been bombarded by so much information over the last few months that they are more confused than ever as to what constitutes a ‘good’ lender and what doesn’t.
“The government has placed the emphasis firmly on rate and has duly legislated to enable borrowers to switch to a lower rate however this is rarely a practical or sensible step in my opinion.
“The recent decoupling from the cash rate by most lenders has made buying a mortgage on price alone even more hazardous as there are now fewer guarantees that any one lender will consistently offer the lowest variable rate for any given time.
“It is therefore of paramount importance that borrowers pick the right lender for their needs with the product pricing being one of only a number of considerations and so giving clarity to the lenders who are most effectively meeting the needs of customers has never been of greater importance.”
Other winners on the night included ING DIRECT, who took out First Home Buyer Lender of the Year, Westpac who took out Best Self-Employed Lender, ANZ who won Investor Lender of the Year, ME Bank who took home the award for Best Customer Experience, Bankwest who took home best customer marketing, Advantedge who took home Best Wholesale Funder, UBank who took home Best Online Operator, Choice Aggregation Services with Best White Label Services RESI for Best Non-Bank and Railways Credit Union who took home Best Mutual.
