Reimagining Broker-Led Commercial Lending in Australia

Reimagining Broker-Led Commercial Lending in Australia

$22.68B

in commercial loans settled by mortgage brokers, April to September 2024, up 31.2% year on year.[1]

81%

of new residential home lending was broker facilitated in the March 2026 quarter, a record share.[4]

2.7M+

businesses operate in Australia, with small businesses making up 97.3% of them.[3]

18%

of businesses sought debt or equity finance in 2024/25, up from just 5% in 2021/22.[5]

The real use cases for AI are data extraction, financial spreading, document verification, fraud detection and policy triaging. What used to take two hours can now take a minute, and that time goes straight back into the judgement call, which is where the value sits.

George Obeid
Chief Third Party Officer, Judo Bank

AML checks can take weeks, and valuations can take weeks, and often they don't all happen in a sequential process. Sometimes AML lands right at the end, and that can derail or delay the whole deal.

David McCleery
Co-Founder, MCP Financial Services

What I sell is peace of mind, and so if I've got that trust with them in the beginning… they prefer that transparency and guidance over continuing to push through a process that isn't working.

Melissa Ashcroft
Managing Director, AAA Mortgages
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What it means

A More Connected Commercial Lending Ecosystem

The future of commercial lending will not simply be about moving faster. The research points towards an ecosystem that is more transparent, more connected and more collaborative, with technology and AI supporting decision making without replacing relationships, professional judgement and governance.

For brokers

  • Invest in commercial capability and specialisation
  • Build strong lender relationships
  • Improve upfront fact finding and document collection

For lenders

  • Improve transparency and application tracking
  • Standardise documentation requirements where possible
  • Run compliance and assessment concurrently where appropriate

For aggregators

  • Build accreditation pathways matched to product complexity
  • Set clear referral standards for complex deals
  • Expand mentorship and shadowing programs

For the industry

  • Develop a common data taxonomy across lenders
  • Establish a standard core document pack
  • Define shared measures of turnaround and visibility

For the industry

  • Develop a common data taxonomy across lenders
  • Establish a standard core document pack
  • Define shared measures of turnaround and visibility

For the industry

  • Develop a common data taxonomy across lenders
  • Establish a standard core document pack
  • Define shared measures of turnaround and visibility

Five Themes Shaping the Future of Commercial Lending

Interviews with brokers, lenders, aggregators and technology providers surfaced five recurring themes, supported by MFAA industry data and market research.

Commercial lending demand continues to grow

Demand is creating significant opportunities for brokers as more Australian businesses seek funding for growth, investment and cash flow.

Process variation across lenders remains a major source of friction

Unlike residential lending, commercial brokers often need to adapt their approach for every lender, since application processes, credit policies and assessment methods can vary significantly.

Documentation, valuations and compliance can slow the journey

Information gathering, verification and compliance activities remain significant contributors to delays, particularly where they happen sequentially rather than concurrently.

Many commercial lending processes remain highly manual

Despite growing digital adoption across the broking industry, significant manual effort remains in document collection, data extraction and application preparation.

Brokers are becoming an increasingly influential finance relationship

For many business clients, the broker is becoming more than a source of lender access, increasingly helping structure funding solutions and navigate complexity.