Macquarie exits car lending to focus on mortgage growth

Macquarie Group announced last week that its banking and financial services division has stopped writing new car loans to prioritise increasing its market share in mortgages and deposits.

Macquarie ceased making car loans under its brand last Monday and gave brokers a 48-hour window to submit any final car loan applications before they switch off its product to brokers in mid-May.

There are approximately 100 jobs that are expected to be lost because of this decision, mostly in sales, credit, and customer-facing teams.

This decision will not impact existing customers as Macquarie will continue to service all existing car loans and novated leasing customers for the duration of their loans.

“This decision will enable us to further prioritise the growth of our home loan and deposit offerings,” said Macquarie’s Head of Personal Banking, Ben Perham.

“Our leading digital experiences for those products are built on best-in-class technology platforms and we see significant opportunity to continue investing in them to attract more customers to Macquarie,” Mr Perham said.

The decision to stop new car loans shouldn’t come as a surprise as Macquarie has been slowing down its automotive department for the past several years.

As of December 31, 2023, its car loan book dove to $4.8 billion compared to $15.2 billion in 2019.

The 2023 figure accounted for only 3.5 per cent of all lending by Macquarie’s Banking and Financial Services group.

Direct channel applications submitted on or before the 22^nd of April, if approved, must be settled before 5 PM AEST on the 17^th of May 2024.

For brokers, which accounted for the majority of Macquarie’s car loans, and novated leasing channels, applications had to be submitted by 5 PM AEST on the 24^th of April 2024 and must be settled before 5 PM AEST on the 17^th of May 2024.