Turnaround ‘blowouts’ will cost the banks

Mr Russell confirmed that the share of business had gone to the major banks and credit unions – CUA in particular. 

“The second tier lenders have bled a bit of market share,” he said. “A bit would have gone to CUA and the rest to the majors.”

Mr Russell admitted that Mortgage Choice brokers have a “hot button” on the service proposition that lenders provide, but that turnaround times are inconsistent across the industry and change daily.

“We would like to see more consistency,” he said.

“Over the 15 years I’ve been in the industry, there is a lot more consistency around turnaround times than there once was, but we still see blowouts.

“Our brokers are on top of turnaround times and if they blowout the lenders will lose flow.”

CUA continued to be a standout performer, winning nine per cent of Mortgage Choice volumes in the six months to 31 December 2014.

CUA general manager of products and marketing, Jason Murray, told The Adviser that the lender’s relationship with Mortgage Choice goes back a long way.

“I think we have had the relationship for over a decade,” he said. “We were a bit quiet during the GFC with them, but we have re-established that relationship over the last three years.

“The key driver of that growth over the last six months has been some new products that we have been able to put out there as a consequence of completing our core system replacement.”

Smaller lenders have been leading the market with the lowest home loan rates on record, despite not sharing the significant funding advantages that the major banks enjoy.

[Related: Challenging times for non-major banks]