Australia’s largest credit union CUA has reported that more than one in four of its loans came through the broker channel throughout the 2017 financial year.
The credit union provides members with a choice of home loan channels and brokers continue to be an important part of that mix, CUA national manager of broker Natasha Kelso told
Australian Broker.
“Around 41% of CUA’s mortgage lending was broker originated in FY17, which was relatively consistent with the previous year. We will continue to work closely with our growing network of more than 1,100 brokers to ensure we offer a consistent, high-level of service that matches their needs,” she said.
In total, $2.81bn of new loans was issued during FY17 with $1.64bn originated in the second half. This rebounded from the $1.17bn issued in the first half when CUA was impacted by “extremely competitive” market conditions as well as an active refinance market.
The lacklustre first half means that total volumes of new loans actually fell by 4.0% year-on-year.
The credit union brought in $2.53bn of new lending through owner occupier and investment loans while personal loan originations stood at $257m – a 37.9% increase on the previous financial year.
Total loans under management were also up 3.0% at $11.53bn.
Net interest income for FY17 sat at $239m, an increase of 2.9% from last year. This reflected greater volumes of interest revenue flowing from the lender’s loan book, said CEO Rob Goudswaard.
CUA Group’s net profit after tax (NPAT) was $55.87m – an increase of 8.1% from the previous year’s results.
The credit union brought in 13,400 new banking members during FY17, bringing the total number to just over 453,000.
“Over the past year, we helped nearly 10,000 members to buy or refinance their home or an investment property. We also assisted more than 12,000 members with things like buying a new car, taking a holiday or undertaking a renovation, setting a new CUA record for personal loans,” Goudswaard said.
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