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NAB Broker chief points way to Wizard buy

By Larry Schlesinger | Wednesday, 22 October 2008

Comments made by NAB Broker regional general manager Matt Lawler have given further weight to rumours that the bank is set to buy struggling franchise group, Wizard.

Speaking at Tuesday's broker road show in Sydney, Lawler said competition in lending would change with "more brand names operating off of the bigger brand name balance sheets".

If NAB were to buy Wizard, just such an arrangement would come into effect, mirroring Westpac's purchase of RAMS and the CBA's one-third investment in Aussie Home Loans.

Rumours of a NAB/Wizard deal follow a report in today's Australian which said the bank was just "days away" from finalising the deal.

The speculation was denied by the bank.

GE Money is looking to offload Wizard, which has a loan book of $12bn and about 170 branches around the country.

If NAB buys only the distribution business and not the loan book, the price tag is expected to be less than $100m.

Related stories:

CBA buys 33% stake in Aussie

Wizard to be put on the market

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Stop helping Banks grow	Michael \| 22/10/2008

Let's review..CBA owns Bankwest and 33% of Aussie (with, i'm sure, an option to buy 100%), Westapac own Rams and St George, NAB will buy Wizard, Suncorp will be bought by one of the major banks. Brokers commissions have been cut yet the Banks market share continues to increase. The non bank sector is slowly being driven out of the market due to the Banks ability to lend at a loss, which they will make up at some point by either pushing out margins or cutting comms further If we get left with three or four major banks controlling the home loan market what will happen to brokers, their industry and their income?? I think it's time we start looking at alternatives and look at what mortgage managers and other non bank lenders have to offer rather than feeding the beast that is the major Banks.
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Eddie's comment	Eddie \| 23/10/2008

I agree with Michael, as a mortgage broker i think we need to support the mortgage managers and non-banks as they will support us. Banks will further reduce commissions and i can imagine service and competition levels dropping leaving us mortgage brokers helpless.
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