Broker satisfaction with CBA dives

After peaking at 28 in May, the major bank’s NPS plunged 42 index points over the past three months, slipping to -14 as of 31 August.

The deterioration in broker satisfaction with CBA has coincided with an increase in the big four bank’s turnaround times, which have almost doubled in recent months, from an average of six business days in June to 11 business days in August.

This comes less than a week after CBA CEO Matt Comyn lauded the bank’s processing capabilities in a parliamentary hearing.

“We’ve invested tens of millions of dollars to make sure that we can turn around [our] lending decision times within a couple of days,” he said.

“It’s enabled us to grow above system. We lent more than $100 billion last financial year to housing.”

Despite the recent blowout in the bank’s turnaround times, the share of brokers lodging mortgage applications with CBA (broker usage) has increased, from 48 per cent in June and July to 54 per cent in August.

CBA’s portfolio growth has far exceeded its big four peers over the 2020 calendar year.   

According to the latest monthly banking statistics from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), the bank’s mortgage portfolio grew by a further $1.1 billion in July.

Since the onset of the COVID-19 crisis, CBA’s portfolio has increased by a cumulative $8.1 billion.

Westpac recovery short-lived, ANZ lags persist

Following a considerable improvement over the June quarter, Westpac’s turnaround times have returned to their 2020 peak of an average of 21 business days, up from 14 business days in July.

As a result, the bank’s NPS sunk from -19 in June to -51 in August.

Broker usage, however, has continued to improve, up from 22 per cent in July to 25 per cent in August.

Meanwhile, ANZ’s turnaround times continue to exceed its big four peers, closing August at an average of 26 business days.

The bank has attributed the blowout in its turnaround times to a spike in daily home loan volumes, which according to CEO Shayne Elliott, peaked at $1.2 billion.  

ANZ’s NPS slipped deeper into negative territory over the month of August, from -67 to -72.

The share of broker submitting loan applications to ANZ has remained relatively stable, rising from 50 per cent to 51 per cent.

NAB’s turnaround times improve

According to the Broker Pulse data, NAB was the only big four bank to record an improvement in its turnaround times in August, down from an average of 10 business days in July to nine business days.    

This resulted in an improvement in NAB’s NPS, which remains in negative territory, however, falling from -32 to -11.

Despite the improvement in broker satisfaction with NAB, broker usage slipped from 29 per cent in August to 27 per cent.  

Brokers interested in joining Momentum Intelligence’s Broker Pulse panel can apply to Momentum Intelligence here. Participants of the survey will receive full access to the report and exclusive insights into the research. 

[Related: ANZ applications peaked at $1.2bn a day]