ANZ appears to have made some progress in its efforts to slash turnaround times on mortgage applications since the start of December, but the bank is yet to see an improvement in loan volumes.
Waiting times on standard home loan applications submitted by pay as you go income earners have shortened to three business days according to an ANZ notification sent to brokers on 24 January.
That is a significant improvement on the waiting times reported by the bank at the end of November when loan applicants requiring mortgage insurance were having to wait up to 20 business days for assessments to be completed.
Assessment times have also improved for so-called “complex” loan applications submitted by owner builders and borrowers requiring guarantors.
According to the bank’s latest advice to brokers, such assessments are now taking an average of 19 business days to complete compared to 35 business days at the end of November.
ANZ’s chief executive Shayne Elliott is throwing more resources into the bank’s loan assessment processes to restore broker support for the mortgage business which suffered deep market share losses throughout 2021.
APRA data released on Monday shows that ANZ’s mortgage book contracted by A$1.65 billion to $260.57 billion in the 12 months to the end of December.
However, home loan volumes appear to stabilise in December after the bank suffered a sharp run-off in its mortgage activity in the three months to the end of September last year.
Despite the recent improvements on turnarounds, brokers are continuing to recommend that prospective borrowers avoid the bank’s loan products until assessment times crunched further.
Lenders such as Macquarie and Bendigo Bank are winning market share from the major banks by deploying semi-automated platforms to fast-track assessments on loan applications.
For several years ANZ has been trying to automate more functions in its loan assessment and processing systems, but the overhaul is taking longer than previously expected.
Banking Day understands that ANZ senior executive Mark Hand is planning to provide an update on the automation program in the next few months.
The automation of loan assessments and processing at the bank is being led by former Woolworths executive, Emma Gray.
Gray was appointed ANZ’s group head of data and automation last May.