ANZ is busy opening branches but the bank's branch network is, on the whole, lousy for at least one key task: selling mortgages.In a briefing yesterday on the performance and plans for its retail bank ANZ disclosed that the average size of loans originated through its branch network was $118,000. Thirty-four per cent of ANZ's new home loan business is sourced through the bank's branch network.This compares with an average loan sold of $199,000 for larger banks and credit unions (a figure provided by Fujitsu Consulting).ANZ's managing director retail banking, Louis Hawke, and managing director mortgages Michael Rowland, singled out mortgages as one area for special emphasis over the next 12 months.Brokers are a more productive source of new business for the bank. The average size of new loans sourced from brokers was $246,000, ANZ said. The bank said 46 per cent of loans sourced through brokers were new to ANZ, a ratio that is about median for the sector, based on Fujitsu research. The bank said its retail channel sourced $1.4 billion in new loans through brokers in July 2007, $1.2 billion through its branch network and $940 million through specialist channels (defined as the ANZ mobile mortgage franchise, the onedirect retail brand and salaried advisers working outside the branch network).ANZ said that it maintained market share in mortgages over the last year, with growth of 13.1 per cent, though only by ignoring the declining portfolio of the Origin business. ANZ's financial statements (now almost six months out of date) showed growth of 10.8 per cent in mortgages, and a loss of market share.The bank also provided data on the most problematic regions for home loan arrears which are, like of lot of lenders, south-western Sydney (where arrears of 60 days or more are a shade higher than one per cent, which is twice the level of arrears in western Sydney or the central coast).