Mutual lender Bank Australia has reported strong growth in its home loan book and revealed big plans to further penetrate the broker channel.
According to the non-majors half-year results, Bank Australia grew its loan book by 6.3% in the six months ending December.
Brokers were behind a small proportion of this growth, Bank Australia chief operating officer John Yardley told
Australian Broker, as the mutual lender only made its debut into the third party channel in September last year when it
announced a partnership with AFG.
However, Yardley says the bank is confident it will see more broker-originated growth in the second half of this financial year, as broker-originated loans that were approved in the first half of the year are now being funded.
Yardley also revealed big plans to increase its footprint in this “key part” of Bank Australia’s distribution strategy.
“Broker is a key part of the bank’s distribution strategy and will be an important contributor to the bank’s growth over coming years,” he told
Australian Broker.
“Investment to date has been about ensuring we have systems in place so brokers and their clients continue to receive excellent service as volumes increase. We have now turned to rolling out nationally with
AFG and are having discussions with other aggregators.”
The mutual lender reported a net profit after tax (NPAT) of $10.20 million. This is a 22.9% decrease on the $13.23 million NPAT reported at the end of December 2014, however, the bank said it made a deliberate decision to forgo a portion of profit this year to focus on investing in its customer owned brand and technology.
