NSW MP Kevin Hogan said that mortgage brokers have told him that it is in their best interest to get clients to borrow as much as they can.
Mr Hogan was on the parliamentary committee that questioned CBA chief executive Ian Narev in Canberra on Friday (20 October), where he was eager to find out from the CEO how brokers were behaving.
“You have one of the most extensive broker networks in the country,” Mr Hogan said, addressing Mr Narev.
“Brokers, as well as customers, tell me it’s obviously in the broker’s interest to get the customer to borrow the maximum amount of money they can get them to borrow — they get remunerated that way — even though they might not need that much money. And then they open an offset account and put the money they don’t need in that account, but they have drawn down the maximum amount of money they can borrow.”
The MP then asked Mr Narev if he has noticed “a big difference” in the number of customers who open an offset account, with money put in it straightaway, between the broker network and their branch network.
The CBA boss took the question on notice, but provided his thoughts on debt levels and the financial wellbeing of customers.
Mr Narev said: “You are raising a different and very valid point, which is: how much should people borrow? In the context of the broader regulation on general advice versus specific advice, we have a lot of discussion about that at the bank, and it is a very live discussion both through our own channels and through proprietary channels.”
Mr Narev noted that, historically, there has generally been a view that “whatever the bank will lend me, I should borrow”.
While he stressed that CBA lends responsibly for what people can service, Mr Narev said that the question of what level of debt somebody is comfortable with is “very personal”.
“The whole industry — and we are certainly doing it, including through behavioural economics in conjunction with academics from Harvard University — is working through how, within the constraints of the law on advice, we can have richer discussions with people to go down exactly the distinction you’ve drawn.”
Mr Hogan restated his belief that brokers get incentive to put customers in larger loans, saying: “It is obviously in the broker’s interest to get that person to borrow as much money as they can possibly get them to do — which might not necessarily be in the best interest of the customer — and you have an extensive network.”
Outgoing ASIC chairman Greg Medcraft also believes that brokers encourage customers to borrow more. In fact, he even admitted that he would do it himself if he was a mortgage broker.
Speaking at a Reuters Newsmaker event on 12 September, Mr Medcraft touched on a recent report from investment bank UBS, which suggested that around $500 billion of mortgages could be based on inaccurate information.
Mr Medcraft said: “The mortgage commission is based on [the fact that] the larger their loans, the more you get. So, logically, what would you do?
“It’s human behaviour. I’d do it.”
