MPA takes a deep dive into the big stories shaping the mortgage broking sector
Australia’s lending sector has been anything but dull in recent weeks, with a slew of earnings reports from both major and non-bank players revealing some truly unexpected shifts.
From big plays in the white-label mortgage space to an upswing in brokered auto loan volumes, there was plenty of news to keep the market buzzing.
MPA looks back at the big themes to emerge from this earnings season.
Bigger lenders turning away from brokers?
Annual results from Australia’s seventh-largest mortgage provider Bendigo Bank underscored a potentially worrying trend for brokers.
The bank reported a 7.6% increase in residential lending, reaching $66.6 billion – driven primarily by strong growth in owner-occupier mortgages. However, the share of new lending attributed to broker channels declined, as momentum shifted toward proprietary and Community Bank branch flows.
This trend became especially pronounced in the second half of the financial year, when proprietary lending rose from 30% to 38% of the total book. In contrast, broker-introduced lending dropped from 51% to 46%. The gap was largely filled by a rise in digital mortgage volumes.
It is hardly a new trend of course. With higher margins for the taking, the majors have increased their focus on proprietary channels.
NAB, for instance, saw a reduction in broker-originated loan share from nearly 65% in the first half of 2024 to just above 61% in the first half of 2025.
Third-party originations are, and will remain to be, a major source of business for NAB, although chief executive Andrew Irvine (pictured below, left) has cited "improving proprietary lending and growing business banking" among NAB’s key priorities for long-term growth.
NAB’s total home loan book grew just shy of 5% year on year in the June quarter, increasing from $414.8 billion in June 2024 to $435.2 billion in June 2025.
Then there’s Westpac, which has also been investing in its proprietary channel, although third-quarter results showed a 2.7% year-on-year decline in proprietary channel share of the loan book. It was not exactly the most bullish quarter for Westpac’s mortgage segment, with the total portfolio creeping up just over 2% from $504.2 billion in June 2024.
In comparison, Commonwealth Bank, which is the only Australian bank with a larger mortgage book than Westpac, saw a 6% yearly increase in its mortgage balance per results published on Wednesday (albeit from a 12-month set of results). Brokers originated just 34% of CBA’s mortgage flows in the year, with flows reducing even further to 33% of all originations in the second half.
ANZ, meanwhile, increased customer deposits by $19 billion, or 3%, in the quarter to 30 June. ANZ has strong ties to the broker channel, brokers settling 67% of the bank’s home loan flows per first-half results earlier this year.
Auto loans: The new broker frontier?
Non-bank lender Resimac reported a 36% increase in settlements, while assets under management in its asset finance division surged, largely driven by the acquisition of Westpac’s auto loan portfolio.
It was nothing short of a return to form for Resimac after suffering a huge decline in settlements back in 2023. And Resimac was not the only one to benefit from a surge in auto loan volumes.
Personal loan and credit card provider Latitude Group also saw a rise in auto and personal loan originations, with its 4,500 accredited brokers the driving force behind volume growth.
Cross-sell opportunities are increasing for mortgage brokers, by the sounds of it. Annual results from specialist equipment finance aggregator COG Financial Services also highlighted this trend.
While acknowledging subdued market conditions, ASX-listed COG saw a 7% increase in accredited brokers and it processed over 8,000 new accreditations in the reporting period. Funding volumes were down 5% year on year to $8.4 billion though, which was partially attributed to “reduced asset values and the end of Government stimulus”.
However, Damian Mantini (pictured above, right), head of strategic partnerships at COG’s Platform Finance segment, pointed to broker resilience and growing demand for diversified lending solutions. “We’re seeing brokers extend into SME and personal lending to meet evolving client needs. Platform Finance has supported that shift, helping drive our strongest year to date,” he said.
AFG eyes white-label market
Speaking of the majors, NAB’s exit from the white-label mortgages space following the closure of Advantedge was music to the ears of mortgage aggregator AFG.
With NAB stepping back from white-label lending, AFG is positioning itself to capture a greater share.
“The recent exit of NAB’s Advantedge presents a growth opportunity for AFG Securities,” AFG said in its results; that growth is already happening.
Following a decline in volumes in the 2024 financial year, the aggregator’s white-label AFG Home Loans segment (which is funded by AFG Securities as well as wholesale funding channels) reclaimed lost ground and then some with a more than 8% increase in volumes to $13.6 billion.
AFG chief executive David Bailey said: “With a manufacturing loan book of $5.5 billion and an economic environment which is conducive to growth in property prices, we anticipate trading conditions for AFG Securities will continue to be positive in the current rate reduction cycle.”
Elsewhere in the aggregator space, Finsure’s loan book surged 15% to $115 billion, while its parent company MA Financial penned a record six-month revenue of $163 million.
“Through the Finsure platform, MA Financial now manages one in every nine new home loans in Australia,” the group claimed.
Joint chief executives Julian Biggins and Chris Wyke said: “We are very pleased with the strong momentum witnessed right across our business in the first half of 2025. Assets under management and loan books continue to grow rapidly. Declining interest rates provide a strong tailwind for most areas of our business.”
Going prime
Blue-chip non-bank lender Pepper Money also updated the market with its first-half results.
Mortgage originations surged to $2.8 billion – an eye-catching 53% year-on-year increase – while asset finance originations climbed 19% to $1.7 billion.
This marked a strong rebound from the same period in 2024, when mortgage growth was limited to 6% and asset finance volumes declined by 19%.
Prime mortgages comprised a walloping 70% of the originations mix versus just 55% in the previous interim period, though this came at the expense of a nine-basis-point squeeze on net interest margins in the mortgage segment.
Despite the squeeze, Pepper Money chief executive Mario Rehayem (pictured, top of page) described the performance as “an amazing start to the year”.
Helia faces LMI reckoning
Lastly, Australia’s largest provider of lenders mortgage insurance (LMI) delivered its half-year results at a time of heightened concern for the future of the LMI market.
Clouds have gathered over Helia ever since the Labor government announced an expansion of its Home Guarantee Scheme (HGS) from the start of next year. To twist the knife in even further, Labor is now bringing the expansion three months forward to this October.
In simple terms, the HGS will allow effectively all first-home buyers in the country to circumvent LMI – the very product that Helia specialises in.
While LMI will still be an important tool for other segments of the homebuying population, it is an undeniable threat to Helia’s bread and butter.
Helia is not blind to these challenges, acknowledging in its results that it “is facing challenges on the outlook for new business, while the financial impact of the reduction in new business during FY26 will emerge gradually over time”.
Helia’s insurance revenue came to $182.2 million in the reporting period, representing a 6% year-on-year decrease.
This decline was primarily driven by lower gross written premiums (GWP) in recent book years, reflecting the ongoing impact of the HGS.
However, year-on-year GWP rose 28% to $109.9 million, attributed to higher market share and increased lending volumes in the mortgage market.
