Many have tried to disrupt home lending in similar ways in Australia, with limited success. But Wilson argues the banks will face a key competitive battle in fighting non-bank lenders such as Athena Home Loans and Nano, both of which use technology to deliver quick, low-cost mortgages through online channels.
He says that over the next three to five years, the mortgage market could undergo the sort of disruption that Uber inflicted on taxis.
To be fair to the big banks, they are starting from a position of enormous strength and they will not back away from a fight over mortgages.
They have very established brands, cheaper funding than smaller rivals, and huge budgets for technology and marketing. Big foreign banks such as Citi, HSBC and ING have competed in Australian retail banking for decades without making major inroads. So whats different today?
Those convinced a big shake-up is coming say the critical difference is that technology is more powerful, and the move towards digital banking has been accelerated by COVID-19.
Nano, a digital lender founded by former Westpac executives Andrew Walker and Chris Lumby, claims to have a fully digital process that can complete an approval for lower-risk loans in under 10 minutes.
Walker says Nano can pump out such quick approvals because it uses algorithms to sift through customers banking data, instead of requiring payslips and bank statements. It is also targeting lower-risk loans.
The pitch is that automated approvals are disruptive because they are not only more convenient for customers, but also dramatically cheaper for the lender.
All good points, but wont deep-pocketed banks simply be able to roll out similar technology as their fintech challengers?
They are undoubtedly trying, through multibillion-dollar technology spending and their own in-house venture capital units.
But those tipping a wave of mortgage disruption, such as Airtree Ventures partner James Cameron, point out banks have often struggled with major technology transformations. Cameron, whose fund is invested in home lender Athena, says banks are in some ways victims of their own success. They are huge institutions that have been around for many decades, if not centuries, so rapid change does not come naturally.
Banks are scrambling to change all the same, and analysts expect they will continue investing in their own fintech ideas, teaming up with fintechs, and potentially buying competitors.
Its also worth remembering banks did successfully respond to new competitors in the mortgage market in the 1990s, when brokers such as Aussie Home Loans and non-bank lenders such as Wizard and RAMS came onto the scene.
Some highly-respected bank watchers such as Jefferies analyst Brian Johnson are also unconvinced the banks are vulnerable to a wave of mortgage disruption. Johnson points out the neobank model has hardly shot the lights out, and thinks the real disruption will come in the small and medium business sector.
Even so, the international experience and the big shift changes in areas such as consumer lending suggest mortgages will inevitably face a digital shake-up.
At the very least, the home loan market appears to be on the cusp of a wave of digital innovation focused on making it simpler to apply for a loan.
Whether this takes some of the shine off the big fours home loan profit factories will depend on how well the incumbents respond to the threat.
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