New loans up 58% to $5.28bn
In its first year after rebranding from a credit union to a bank, Great Southern Bank has notched up a record for new lending.
Releasing its results for the year ended June 30, Australia’s largest customer-owned bank said the value of new loans had reached $5.28bn, up 58% year-on-year.
The bank’s loan book surpassed $15bn, and home loan growth outpaced the sector average at around 1.6 times system.
Brokers contributed about 70% of all home lending over the year, which was in line with MFAA figures showing brokers facilitated 68% of all new residential home loans over the June quarter.
Great Southern Bank said it had helped 20,500 customers become homeowners over the year.
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Several major investments and projects were completed over the year, including a transformational home loan origination system, open banking, cloud migration of key technology infrastructure and a new transaction monitoring system.
Great Southern Bank CEO and managing director Paul Lewis (pictured above) said the investments, particularly in its home lending systems, “significantly reduced” the time it took for the bank to provide an application decision.
“For almost half of our applications, it’s now under 48 hours,” Lewis said. “We expect the foundations and systems we’ve put in place will be a key enabler for growth over the years to come.”
The addition of aggregators SFG, Loan Market and Lendi Group over recent months meant the number of brokers in Great Southern Bank’s network had expanded to 5,100. This was almost double the previous number, the bank said.
Strong growth was made possible by the bank’s “absolute commitment” and focus on the bank’s purpose, Lewis said.
“Against a backdrop of high house prices and rising interest rates, we are continuing to help more Australians find alternative paths to home ownership, including first home buyers and single parents who may have historically found it difficult to get on to the property ladder,” Lewis said.
A Roy Morgan Consumer Banking June 2022 Australia report showed that, compared to the four major banks (77.4%), the mutual sector had the highest customer satisfaction, at 91.6% overall.
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Customer satisfaction was reflected in the bank’s net promoter score, which ended the year three times higher than the big four banks, Great Southern Bank said.
Great Southern Bank was awarded Customer-Owned Bank of the Year in the Canstar 2022 Bank of the Year and Customer Owned Bank of the Year Awards, which recognised the value banks provide to their customers through their product and service offering.
“We are well on the way towards our aspiration of doubling our size and capacity through either organic or inorganic growth, becoming an even stronger alternative to the major banks,” Lewis said.
