National Australia Bank (NAB) is accelerating growth as it doubles down on its proprietary lending channel.
The major bank reported on Monday that lending increased by 2.9% across the bank, during the six months ending 31 March. NAB's own proprietary lending channel also continues to gain traction, accounting for 47.7% of home loans during the first half, up from 41.4% during the six months prior, or 35.3% of all new lending in the back half of 2023. The numbers rose even higher in the month of March, with proprietary flows reaching 50%.
Andrew Irvine, NAB's chief executive officer, described the growth as "a major milestone" for NAB.
In a media call on Monday, the CEO said the bank was moving to a "targeted" broker approach.
"What we want to do is to focus on a smaller cohort of brokers that we have good relationships with, that we can, essentially, more effectively service," Irvine explained. "We'll be focusing on those brokers where we believe that we'll get flows that are closer to our appetite in terms of above cost-of-capital lending. We really don't want to be doing business where the returns are below our cost of capital. So that's where we're pulling away from, slowly and purposefully."
The update comes as banks continue to push their own in-house lending channels, leaving some market players to wonder about the future of mortgage broking in Australia.
In the case of NAB, the major solidified its push for proprietary lending in 2025 by hiring roughly 150 new proprietary home lenders. The move offered a preview of the bank's plans to grow its direct channels while reducing reliance on third-party brokers. The bank has recently said it now has around 270 new bankers in its proprietary lending division.
"Continued growth in proprietary home lending is allowing us to adopt a more targeted approach in the broker market," Irvine explained. "This, in combination with further delivery of seamless customer and broker experiences, is positioning us well to optimise growth and returns in this important market.”
Regarding the shift, the CEO added: "It's really important that everybody is aware that there's lots of broker flow out there that we like; there's lots of brokers out there that we want to do more with. And we're going to continue to push into that.”
Adam Brown, NAB executive, broker distribution, has also emphasized to Australian Broker that "NAB continues to invest in both our broker and proprietary channels to drive growth, ensuring a balanced focus on both."
While brokers still write the majority of NAB home loans, their share is slipping. As of March 2026, the third-party broker channel was responsible for 53.8% of all loans, down from 59% in FY25, or 64.9% in the first half of FY24.
Lender strategies on the third-party channel are mixed. While NAB and Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) have confirmed that they are tightening their grips on direct lending, ANZ recently revealed growth in its broker-originated loans.
Meanwhile, in the most recent first half, NAB posted cash profits of $2.64 billion, up 2.3% from the prior period. The bank's mortgage book, excluding Ubank, is now worth $373 billion.
Business lending was a major growth driver, up 5.6% with market share gains in both small- and medium-sized (SME) and total business lending.
The major's record results come amid increasing global uncertainty and high inflationary pressures at home, which could squeeze margins and make developers more likely to pull back.
But while Irvine acknowledged that: "Geopolitical tensions have created a more volatile macro economic environment."
He added, "We are well placed to navigate a period of increased volatility."
