Bank resourcing should have been a ComCom recommendation

Squirrel Mortgages chief executive David Cunningham wonders whether the Commerce Commission should have made bank resourcing one of its recommendations in the bank competition study completed last year to ensure a level playing field.

He says it can be argued the recent longer turnaround mortgage application processing times are an unintended and extremely anti-competitive outcome.

“I say unintended because I don’t think the banks intended that. They effectively are encouraging customers to go to them rather than a mortgage adviser because they will turn around a loan application within 24 hours.

“It isn’t necessarily intentional, but they have been benefitting in a way that some might say is exactly the sort of thing the Commerce Commission should have a look at – customers getting 24-hour approval at bank branches when it can take weeks through an adviser.