Seventh-largest mortgage lender pens a lossmaking year due to significant goodwill impairment
Bendigo Bank saw a 7.6% lift in residential lending to $66.6 billion in its 2024 financial year, with volumes concentrated in owner-occupier mortgages, though a small uplift in investor loans was also reported.
Total lending was up a more modest 6.3%, dragged by softer business and agribusiness lending.
The results underscored a heavy reliance on residential mortgages for Bendigo Bank, which is currently Australia’s seventh-largest home lender.
Broker flows saw a decline in share of new lending volumes as proprietary and Community Bank branches captured a larger proportion of flows.
This was particularly evident in the second half of the financial year, when proprietary lending increased from 30% to 38% of the book, while broker-introduced lending fell from 51% to 46% of the book. Digital mortgages made up the difference.
In fact, Bendigo Bank’s retail channel delivered its highest level of settlements since 2019.
'Residential lending growth was driven by the introduction of the bank’s Bendigo Lending Platform, which is available across both the broker channel and through mobile relationship managers in its retail network.
The rollout of the Bendigo Lending Platform is part of a bid to simplify the lending process for customers of the bank.
On a group-wide basis, Bendigo Bank had a lossmaking year to the tune of $97.1 million, attributed to a goodwill impairment. Cash earnings were down 8.4% to $514.6 million.
“The full year results we present today demonstrate our balanced approach in a challenging and competitive environment,” said Richard Fennell (pictured), managing director and chief executive.
“The Bank has delivered more moderate growth and stable margin in the second half of FY25,” he continued. “This is in contrast to the first half where a significant increase in demand for our products placed margins under pressure.”
Fennell added that expenses were higher due to planned investment spend.
