New data shows APRA crackdown may be working

APRA’s latest monthly banking statistics, for April, have revealed that 10 third-party banks grew their investor volumes by more than 10 per cent over the year.

One of the “specific areas of prudential concern” that APRA identified in December was lenders increasing their investor volumes by more than 10 per cent per annum, which would translate to 0.83 per cent per month.

According to APRA, Macquarie Bank grew its investor volumes by 74.8 per cent over the year, to $7.9 billion.

However, in a possible sign that banks are heeding APRA’s warning, Macquarie’s monthly growth was only 2.2 per cent.

Another three of the 10 banks reported monthly growth of less than 0.83 per cent, which may be another sign of APRA’s influence.

Westpac wrote $149.8 billion of investor loans in April, which marked a 10.3 per cent annual rise but only a 0.7 per cent monthly rise.

ANZ’s investor lending reached $59.8 billion over the month, which was up 10.5 per cent annually but only 0.8 per cent monthly.

Suncorp Bank provided $12.3 billion of investor loans – up 12.1 per cent over the year but only 0.6 per cent over the month.

The other seven third-party banks exceeded both the monthly and annual targets in April.

Teachers Mutual Bank wrote $707.0 million of investor loans, which marked 32.6 per cent annual growth and 1.7 per cent monthly growth.

ME Bank wrote $3.8 billion of investor loans, which was up 30.4 per cent over the year and 2.3 per cent over the month.

P&N Bank reported 25.8 per cent annual growth and 1.2 per cent monthly grow, as its investor volumes reached $671.1 million.

AMP Bank climbed 13.9 per cent over the year and 2.0 per cent over the month to $2.8 billion.

NAB’s investor lending reached $65.0 billion after 13.9 per cent annual growth and 1.2 per cent monthly growth.

Heritage Bank wrote $1.6 billion of investor loans – up 10.8 per cent over the year and 1.9 per cent over the month.