The head of the FBAA has hit back at major banks after claiming some have reduced support for the broker channel.
The managing director of the Finance Brokers Association of Australia (FBAA), Peter White, has slammed Australia’s major lenders, claiming that “big banks hate competition”.
White added that he was “continually amazed at how such large organisations with smart people often can’t see the forest for the trees.”
His comments come after Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) outlined plans earlier this week to expand mortgage and business lending, including the addition of 50 per cent more mortgage lenders inside its branches.
The changes will likely grow returns from ANZ’s proprietary lending arm and could reduce reliance on mortgage brokers.
White described ANZ’s strategy as “more of the typical bank playbook” and said that plans by the major to increase its branch lending sales force should not come as a surprise.
“I’m not referring specifically to ANZ, but let’s just say a few of the majors have been obsessed for a while about increasing their direct business and in some cases reducing support for the broker channel, but they are missing the point,” White said.
“It’s not about brokers and it’s not about the banks. It’s about the customers and they are overwhelmingly putting their trust in mortgage brokers.”
ANZ is not the only major lender that has been focusing on writing more mortgages through proprietary channels.
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s (CBA) 2025 financial results revealed that its focus on proprietary mortgage lending had resulted in falling broker flows and a dominating proprietary channel.
In contrast, Westpac’s financial results for the six months to March 2025 (1H25) showed that the proportion of all mortgages written through its proprietary channel dropped to 32.5 per cent – a new record low.
White criticised some banks’ resistance to competition.
“While technology is rapidly advancing, the attitudes of some of the larger banks remain stuck in the past, and they can’t seem to embrace today’s competitive and customer-driven environment,” he said.
“Let’s make it real – the big banks hate competition and if they had their way, they’d go back to the old days when a few of them controlled the market.
“But the losers back then were consumers, and this was highlighted not so long ago at the Royal Commission, which we must remember was set up to investigate misconduct of the banks.”
White said mortgage brokers are adhering to best interests duty (BID) and acting in the best interests of their customers.
He added that it was “somewhat humorous” that some banks see brokers as competition.
“Meanwhile, mortgage brokers are adhering to BID and acting in the best interests of the customer,” White said.
“Borrowers are still customers of the lenders, so this is all just silliness to me.”
White called for brokers to keep doing what they are doing in providing excellent customer service.
“Hopefully, soon the big banks will get it, as other lenders already do, and focus their energy on working with the broking channel in the best interests of our mutual customers,” White said.
[Related: Matos outlines ANZ’s new strategy]
