When ANZ completed its $4.9 billion acquisition of Suncorp Bank in August 2024, it inherited one of Australia's largest regional mortgage books and a significant question mark: could it grow what Suncorp had built? Or would the integration process bleed volume the way similar bank acquisitions historically have?
Twenty months in, APRA's data offers an early answer — and it is cautiously positive.
Suncorp's banking business, now operating as Norfina Limited on the APRA register, held $53.9 billion in residential mortgages when it first appeared as a separate ANZ subsidiary in August 2024. By March 2026, that book had grown to $57.7 billion, an increase of $3.8 billion, or 7% in under two years.
That is not a spectacular growth rate. But in a market environment defined by rising interest rates, falling consumer confidence and a property slowdown in the two largest cities, keeping a recently-acquired book growing at all is a meaningful operational achievement.
What the APRA data makes clear is that Norfina is being operated as a largely separate entity from ANZ's core mortgage book, at least for reporting purposes. ANZ's own residential mortgage book stood at $324 billion in March 2026, growing 3.7%, year-over-year. Add Norfina's $57.7 billion and the combined ANZ group mortgage exposure reaches $381.7 billion, representing 15.5% of the national market.
That combined figure is significant. Without Norfina, ANZ's standalone share of 13.2% would make it the smallest of the big four by some margin. With it, the combined group sits $34.9 billion behind NAB's $347 billion book. And the integration is not yet complete.
The gap to National Australia Bank (NAB) tells a more nuanced story than the headline numbers suggest. Back in March 2022, before Suncorp's books were folded in, the combined ANZ group trailed NAB by just $19.6 billion. But as NAB grew aggressively through 2023 and 2024 while the ANZ integration was still in progress, that gap blew out to $39.2 billion by March 2025. The last 12 months have seen it begin to close again, shrinking from $39.2 billion to $34.9 billion as Norfina's book has grown and ANZ's standalone lending has picked up pace. If that trajectory holds, the gap to NAB could narrow further once integration completes and the combined entity begins reporting as one.
ANZ Chief Executive Officer Nuno Matos has stated publicly that the bank expects to fully integrate Norfina into ANZ's banking platform no later than June 2027. As part of the ANZ 2030 strategy unveiled in October 2025, Matos said ANZ plans to phase out Suncorp products from the market and integrate the new ANZ Plus digital front-end by September 2027, while boosting its in-branch mortgage sales force by 50 per cent. When the integration completes, ANZ's reported APRA figures will absorb Norfina's book, and the combined entity's market share will reflect the full scale of the acquisition for the first time.
One nuance in the Norfina data that will be of interest to brokers is the composition of its book. When Norfina first appeared on the APRA register in August 2024, its investor lending represented 28.4% of its total book, or $15.3 billion out of $53.9 billion. By March 2026, that investor share had grown to 30%, or $17.3 billion out of $57.7 billion.
That shift suggests the new lending flowing into the Norfina book is more heavily weighted toward investors than the existing stock, consistent with the broader national trend of investor lending outpacing owner-occupier growth. It also reflects the geographic footprint of the legacy Suncorp book, which is heavily concentrated in Queensland, a market that has seen among the strongest investor demand in the country over the past two years.
By contrast, ANZ's own standalone book sits at 33.7% investor, higher than Norfina, reflecting ANZ's historically stronger positioning in investment property lending through its institutional and wealth management client base.
For brokers accredited with both ANZ and the legacy Suncorp-Norfina platform, the period between now and the June 2027 integration deadline is one that warrants active monitoring.
Bank integrations historically create two types of risk for broker-originated volume. The first is policy harmonisation. When Norfina's credit policy is absorbed into ANZ's, some clients who were approved under legacy Suncorp settings may find their borrowing capacity changes at renewal or refinancing. Brokers who placed loans through the Suncorp channel in 2023 and 2024, when interest rates were lower, should be reviewing those clients' positions ahead of any integration-related policy changes.
The second risk is service disruption. Technology migrations at this scale are complex, and even well-managed integrations typically produce a period of reduced turnaround times and increased document requests as staff adapt to new systems. Brokers who rely heavily on either the ANZ or the Norfina processing channels should maintain contingency lender relationships during this period.
On the opportunity side, ANZ's stated ambition is to use the Suncorp acquisition to close the gap between itself and Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) and Westpac in Australian retail and business banking, a goal that Matos has framed as one of his five immediate priorities. As Australian Broker reported in October 2025, ANZ has been actively expanding its proprietary lending division, though it has simultaneously confirmed there are no decisions yet on the future state of the Suncorp brand within the group. A bank actively trying to grow its retail market share through the broker channel is, all else being equal, a more competitive and receptive lending partner than one that is not. Brokers who invest in the ANZ relationship over the next 18 months may find themselves well-positioned as integration completes and the combined entity begins operating at full scale.
