It will come via two new agreements…
Newcastle Permanent Building Society has entered into new agreements with broker network Smartline and Lendi Group, in a move that it says boosts its presence in its existing broker footprint.
The agreements were formed in the last six months, and relationships with new brokers have already commenced, the customer-owned bank confirmed.
Newcastle Permanent senior manager broker Greg Ferris (pictured above) told MPA the bank recognised that broker-originated home loans represented a “substantial share” of the Australian market.
Figures provided by MFAA for the September 2022 quarter showed brokers originated over 70% of mortgage lending in Australia.
The bank remained committed to ongoing sustainable growth with new and existing broker partners, Ferris said.
“Brokers offer an excellent opportunity to grow the Newcastle Permanent brand outside of our heartland.”
The partnerships build on the bank’s presence in NSW, the ACT and Queensland, Ferris said.
“We initially went into Queensland just on three years ago.”
The relationships with Smartline and Lendi Group would see Newcastle Permanent’s total broker numbers increase by around 30% and take its total aggregators from four to six.
Ferris noted that broker relationships featured prominently over the last year, and that the bank’s gradual expansion to new partners had delivered strong lending growth.
Commenting on the bank’s service approach, Ferris said Newcastle Permanent had always been proud of the level of “authentic customer service” it provided through the value chain.
The bank’s service proposition could be strongly attributed to record numbers produced through the broker channel over the last 12 months, he said. Over the 2022 financial year, Newcastle Permanent reported $2.6bn in home loan approvals, up 7% year-on-year. Its home loan portfolio of $9.8bn was up 6.7%.
“Through this expansion, it was critical that we also increased our BDM team in line with these new relationships to ensure we maintain the level of service we are renowned for,” Ferris said. “We also have a local Newcastle-based processing team who are there to support our brokers’ customers.”
He said Newcastle Permanent’s participation in the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation Home Guarantee scheme had been a “wonderful success”, allowing it to forge new relationships with first home buyers.
Looking ahead, Ferris said he expected the refinance market to dominate the lending landscape in 2023.
“Newcastle Permanent is a responsible lender, and we are confident that our customers are well placed to navigate through the uncertainty,” Ferris said. “Like most lenders Newcastle Permanent will see a lot of low fixed rate periods coming to an end for borrowers and we will work with brokers and their customers to ensure this process is as smooth and stress-free as possible.”
Newcastle Permanent is poised to merge with Greater Bank – the boards of the two banks confirming in November that their respective members had voted strongly in favour of the proposal.
Pending final approval, the merger is to result in a combined entity of over $20bn in total assets, and approximately 600,000 customers.
