iscover 
The average turnaround time for an initial credit decision has reached 7.4 business days for non-ADIs, compared with 3.4 days for large ADIs in August, according to Agile Market Intelligence’s latest Broker Pulse survey.
The survey, which polled 413 residential brokers between 1 and 15 September about their experiences with lenders through August, found turnaround times among non-banks increased from 7.2 business days in July 2026 and from 5.4 days in August 2024.
Meanwhile, turnaround times among small banks averaged 5.7 business days during the month.
The longer processing times among non-ADIs come despite the segment continuing to play an important role in the broker channel, with almost half of brokers reporting that they had used at least one non-bank lender during the month.
Non-bank wait times vary
The length of turnaround times among non-banks varied widely.
Connective Home Loans recorded the fastest turnaround time in the segment at three business days, while RedZed followed at five days.
AFG Home Loans, Resimac, and Firstmac each recorded turnaround times of six business days, while Bluestone came in at seven days. Liberty Financial recorded an average of eight business days, while Pepper Money’s turnaround time increased to eight days in August, from six days the previous month.
La Trobe Financial recorded the longest turnaround time among the non-ADIs at 13 business days, although this was down from 14 days in July.
Among large banks, Macquarie Bank recorded the fastest turnaround time at one business day, while Bankwest, ING, St.George Banking Group, and Westpac each recorded three days.
NAB, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, and ANZ each recorded four business days, while the large-ADI segment as a whole averaged 3.4 days.
While non-bank turnaround times have been trending upward for at least the last two years, Michael Johnson, director of Agile Market Intelligence, said that these longer wait times weren’t necessarily translating into negative experiences for brokers.
“Despite this increase though, brokers are quite happy with non-bank lenders – with the broker experience rating (83 per cent) mirroring that of non-majors (87 per cent) and majors (83 per cent),” Johnson said.
“This is reinforced by the fact that non-bank credit assessment staff received similar or higher levels of satisfaction compared to the other lender segments.
“The way we read this is that while turnaround times are increasing, this isn’t necessarily causing a negative experience among brokers – perhaps because of the current market appetite, brokers are happy to wait a few extra days if it means they’ll get a ’yes’ on a deal and retain their client.”
Different lenders for different reasons
Despite the turnaround time gap, Agile’s survey found that brokers are continuing to use all three lender categories, although their reasons for doing so varied.
Major banks remained the most widely used segment in August, with 82 per cent of brokers submitting an application to at least one major lender.
Non-major banks followed at 77 per cent, while 47 per cent of brokers used at least one non-bank lender.
Macquarie Bank was the most commonly used lender overall, with 47 per cent of brokers submitting an application during August, followed by ANZ at 46 per cent and the Commonwealth Bank of Australia at 34 per cent.
Among non-major banks, Bankwest was used by 19 per cent of brokers, followed by ING at 18 per cent and St.George Banking Group at 17 per cent.
Liberty Financial was the most-used non-bank lender at 10 per cent, followed by Firstmac at 8 per cent, while Pepper Money and La Trobe Financial were each used by 5 per cent.
The reasons brokers gave for using each segment diverged.
Client circumstances were the dominant consideration for major banks, cited by 71 per cent of brokers, followed by product pricing at 34 per cent.
For non-major banks, pricing was the leading factor at 62 per cent, while client circumstances ranked second at 49 per cent.
The pattern was reversed for non-banks, where 81 per cent of brokers cited client circumstances as the primary reason for choosing a lender, compared with just 12 per cent who cited pricing.
Turnaround times were cited by 23 per cent of brokers when choosing non-major banks, compared with 6 per cent for major banks and 5 per cent for non-banks.
Broker experience varies across the market
The differences between lender categories also extend to brokers’ overall experience.
Broker Pulse calculates its broker experience rating as the average percentage of satisfied brokers across the BDM, application, assessment, and settlement stages.
Among large ADIs, Macquarie Bank recorded the highest three-month average broker experience rating at 96 per cent for June, July, and August.
Bankwest followed at 92 per cent, while ING and Westpac both recorded 88 per cent.
Among smaller ADIs, HSBC and Great Southern Bank both recorded 93 per cent, while People First Bank recorded the lowest three-month average in the category at 60 per cent.
The non-ADI group also showed a broad spread, with AFG Home Loans recording the highest three-month average broker experience rating at 89 per cent, followed by Connective Home Loans at 87 per cent.
Bluestone recorded 83 per cent; Resimac, 82 per cent; and Liberty Financial, 79 per cent, while Firstmac recorded 73 per cent.
[Related: Older borrowers lead consumer credit demand]
Want to see more stories from trusted news sources?Make Broker Daily a preferred news source on Google.
