The news that shocked in 2023

Brokers save clients thousands through repricing

After the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) lifted interest rates by 300 bps, brokers were busy getting proactive in contacting clients on repricing options and getting ahead of the fixed-rate mortgage cliff.

February 2023

Loan Market Group to operate as one aggregator

Loan Market Group, which incorporates Loan Market, PLAN Australia, Choice Aggregation, and FAST (PCF), revealed it would consolidate all of its aggregation brands to form one aggregator – LMG – making LMG the biggest aggregator covering Australia and New Zealand with more than 6,000 brokers.

March 2023

Broking industry ramps up payroll tax action

The Mortgage & Finance Association of Australia (MFAA) launched a campaign to help NSW brokers write to their local MPs asking them to act on the payroll tax issue as Revenue NSW seeks to introduce payroll tax on commissions paid to mortgage and finance brokers. If the move – which is the subject of an ongoing court case with Loan Market – is successful, the cost of the tax would likely be passed down to brokers (and cannot be passed through to borrowers).

March 2023

ANZ hit with $10m fine

The major bank was penalised $10 million by the Federal Court in relation to its Home Loan Introducer Program. The Introducer Program involved home loan referrals to ANZ from third-party ‘introducers’ from various professions, including cleaners and real estate agents.

May 2023

3 majors scrap cashbacks as NIM becomes a problem

National Australia Bank (NAB), the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), and Westpac all announced they would be pulling cashback offers from refinance home loan offerings as net interest margins on mortgages were squeezed. ANZ was the only major not to do so.

June 2023

Fixed-rate cliff arrives

Over the course of 2023, around $350 billion over 800,000 loans rolled off, with the vast majority expiring between June and September 2023. Despite concerns about how borrowers would cope, arrears rates have remained very low, partially attributed to high savings volumes.

July 2023

Home Guarantee Scheme expanded

From 1 July, more people became eligible for the 50,000 guarantee spots. Friends, siblings, and other family members can now apply in pairs under the First Home Guarantee and the Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee, more single guardians can use the Family Guarantee, and permanent residents and buyers who haven’t owned a property in Australia in the last 10 years can also now qualify.

September 2023

ACCC denies ANZ-Suncorp merger

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) denied authorisation to ANZ Banking Group (ANZ) to acquire Suncorp Group’s banking arm, arguing it would substantially lessen competition in the supply of home loans nationally, small- to medium-sized enterprise banking in Queensland, and agribusinesses banking in Queensland. The banks have appealed the decision with the Australian Competition Tribunal.

September/October 2023

Michele Bullock becomes first female RBA governor and makes her first cash rate call

The new RBA governor Michele Bullock announced that the RBA board was holding the cash rate for October 2024. Ms Bullock took over as central bank governor in September, following the departure of Philip Lowe.

November 2023

CBA has ‘turned its back’ on brokers: FBAA

After the major lender “made huge profits off the back of mortgage brokers”, the FBAA claimed that they were now “turning their backs on the industry”,

December 2023

Connective wins court case appeal

Connective is in for a hard 2024 as the shareholder dispute comes to a head. It will have to unwind its Macquarie deal (where the bank owns 25 per cent of it) and with the directors being declared unfit by the court – it might need to find new leadership AND a new partner to pay for all of the costs and to buy out the minority shareholder (if that is what it decides to do).

IN MEMORIAM

And we remember some of those we lost this year:

In Memoriam: Ruth Cresswell, 1968–2023

Ruth Patricia Cresswell, a veteran broker relationship manager and sales manager, passed away unexpectedly in October at the age of 54.

In Memoriam: Blake Albones, 1978–2023

Blake Albones, a long-serving member of the mortgage industry, passed away suddenly in October at the age of 45.

In Memoriam: Craig ‘Bakes’ Bacon, 1967–2023

Craig ‘Bakes’ Bacon, a financial services specialist and former head of broker relationships at NAB (2003–07), passed away suddenly on 30 June at the age of 55.

In Memoriam: Mick McClure, 1953–2023

Mick McClure, the founder of sub-aggregation group Buyers Choice and a pioneer of sub-aggregation in Australia, passed away in July at the age of 69.

In Memoriam: Garry Stewart, 1956-2023

Garry Stewart, a long-time member of the financial services industry, has passed away in March after a short illness.

In Memoriam: Craig ‘Kitch’ Kitchen, 1962–2023

Craig Kitchen, business development manager at Keylend and a former long-serving state manager for PLAN Australia, passed away in February at the age of 61 after a long battle with cancer.