Higher commissions, new third-party player on the way?

AFG’s general manager of sales and operations, Mark Hewitt, hinted that improved commissions may lie ahead.

Mr Hewitt said market competition may compel some lenders to offer brokers “improved terms” in the knowledge they could rely on healthy margins and strong lines of funding.

He added that AFG had also forecast growth in its own business, with 300 new brokers added in 2013/2014 and a similar number expected to join the aggregator in 2014/2015.

FirstPoint Mortgages director Troy Phillips said non-majors like Macquarie Bank, Suncorp and ING DIRECT would challenge the dominance of the big four this financial year.

He told The Adviser that a foreign bank such as HSBC might also shake up the market by entering the third-party channel.

Mr Phillips said one issue that needed to be watched in 2014/2015 was the position of first home buyers, which he forecast would worsen due to a lack of suitable properties and land releases.

FBAA chief executive Peter White said brokers could expect the loan application process to become more efficient thanks to improvements in technology.

Mr White also said it was possible the FBAA could see positive results from its lobbying efforts to simplify disclosure obligations and reduce the amount of paperwork faced by borrowers.

MFAA chief executive Phil Naylor said brokers were likely to continue increasing their share of the mortgage market, while also benefiting from low interest rates and falling unemployment.

He also said the ongoing Financial System Inquiry would be “pivotal” to the industry’s longer-term future.

“I don’t think anything will happen during this year that will change things, but we will hopefully get a report from the Financial System Inquiry that will give recommendations as to what we can expect from the future,” he said.

[Related: Coles may enter mortgage market in 2014/2015]