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In its financial results for the six months to March 2025 (1H25), major bank NAB has reported a drop in broker flows from 60.1 per cent to 59.6 per cent (on the six months to September 2024/2H24), further emphasising the bank’s shift of focus to the direct channel.
In the year to March 2025, broker flows have declined from 64.6 per cent, while new mortgages originated through the proprietary channel have increased to 40.4 per cent.
However, the overall Australian mortgage portfolio showed an increase in broker-originated loans, up from 52 per cent to 52.9 per cent on 2H24, and up 2.5 per cent on 1H24. Despite the shift towards proprietary, brokers are still responsible for the majority of mortgage flows for the major bank.
CEO Andrew Irvine further drove home that improving proprietary home lending was a “clear priority”, along with growing its core business banking franchise and driving performance in deposits.
However, NAB has previously said that it still has intentions to be “the bank behind the broker” despite the channel focus shift.
NAB’s executive for broker distribution, Adam Brown, emphasised this during the Market Megatrends 2024 report launch event in December 2024, saying that while the focus on the proprietary channel is important, particularly for customers who choose to go direct, the bank still intends to “be a super bank for brokers”.
“We are more committed than ever to supporting our brokers, supporting our aggregator partners, and being a really, really robust bank for the broker channel. But it is important that we’re also a great bank for our direct customers,” Brown said at the time.
NAB originated $41 billion in new home lending during the half, with the average new loan size growing to $599,000.
The bank’s total Australian mortgage portfolio grew by 4.3 per cent year on year, increasing from $344 billion to $359 billion. The average loan size across the full mortgage book also climbed 3.4 per cent over the same period, reaching $394,000.
Variable rate products dominated, with 97.2 per cent of new loans written over the half year carrying variable interest rates. Owner-occupied loans made up 65.7 per cent of the bank’s Australian mortgage portfolio, with investor loans accounting for the remaining 34.3 per cent.
In business lending, NAB’s business banking loan book reached $158 billion as of March 2025.
Irvine said that NAB’s business bank was a “key differentiator in a highly competitive market”
“I’m pleased NAB is the biggest business lender and we are now the largest bank in business deposits and have improved our share of household deposits,” Irvine said.
“During the past six months, we have increased our share of SME lending. We want to grow this business, not simply defend it.”
[RELATED: Proprietary channel won't push out brokers, says NAB]
