An increase in broker lending has helped Australia’s largest credit union achieve a strong full-year lending result.
During FY18 CUA issued a total of $3.10billion in new home loans. The broker channel accounted for 52% of new mortgage lending, with $1.62billion during the 12 months to 30 June 2018.
The share of mortgage lending through the broker channel had increased from 41% and the volume of broker-originated loans increased by $580million since FY17.
The latest figures bring the credit union closer to the broker market share across the whole industry.
CUA chief sales officer Paul Lewis said this reflected its focus on strengthening broker relationships.
He added, “Given the strong consumer preference for mortgage brokers, accounting for more than half of all mortgages at an industry level, it is important for CUA to be available to consumers in the channel of their choice.
“Brokers will remain an important lending channel for CUA in the coming year and we’d hope to maintain a similar share of broker-originated lending and organic lending through CUA’s own channels again this year.
“Over the past year, CUA has continued to focus on ensuring we get positive outcomes for members, whether they join CUA via the third party channel or through our organic channels.
“Our Business Development Managers have done an outstanding job in each state to support brokers and educate them on CUA’s offering, including both our products and the other services we provide to members. This has been the real key for CUA.”
Other improvements during the year included the introduction of a dedicated broker member specialist to onboard broker-introduced members and educate them on the full-range of other CUA products and services.
Lewis also noted CUA’s significant investment in member initiatives during the past year, saying these initiatives would provide a better member experience, return more value to members and increase choice in how members interact with CUA and manage their money.
“We’ve updated our mobile banking app and also now offer members a full suite of digital wallets across Apple, Android and Samsung devices,” Lewis said.
“Members are also benefitting from faster payments, after CUA was among the early adopters of the New Payments Platform (NPP) when it launched to the market in February 2018.
“We are confident these initiatives will help us to attract new members to CUA through both organic and third-party channels. This focus on innovation combined with the personalised service that members know and trust, are where CUA has an opportunity to differentiate ourselves in the market.”
In the year ahead, Lewis said CUA will be focused on streamlining its end-to-end processes to further improve member experience, starting with its deposit and account opening process, and then moving on to its home loan process.
