Australia's customer-owned lenders are growing — and so are their challenges
Banking one in five Australians and a major force in innovation, customer-owned banks face scale challenges, particularly in the cost of regulation, says COBA CEO Michael Lawrence.
Michael Lawrence is the chief executive of the Customer Owned Banking Association (COBA), the national body for credit unions, mutual banks and building societies, a sector which represents 70% of Australia’s authorised deposit taking institutions (ADIs). COBA’s members count one in five Australians as customers and collectively are the fifth largest bank for household lending.
What is the outlook for the customer-owned sector? Where are the main opportunities?
Our members are growing, mortgage growth is above system. Analysis of APRA Quarterly ADI performance data shows an average mortgage growth rate over the last five years of 6.94%, compared to 3.53% for major banks.
According to KPMG’s Sector Impact Assessment of Customer Owned Banks, the sector directly contributed $2 billion to Australian GDP in FY22, with a wider economic footprint equal to $5.7 billion.
