A quiet retention crisis is building across Australia's banking, finance, and mortgage industry, with new research from Hays revealing that salary satisfaction has slipped to just 41% among professionals in the sector — fractionally below the already-low national average of 42% — as pay rises that merely track inflation fail to meet worker expectations.
The stakes are particularly high in mortgage broking: brokers wrote 76.7% of all new residential home loans in the December 2025 quarter — the highest December quarter share on record — facilitating $142.20 billion in new home loans. In a sector of that scale, attracting and retaining skilled staff is becoming increasingly competitive.
The Hays Salary Guide FY26/27, drawn from more than 7,000 hiring managers and professionals across Australia and New Zealand, found that half of all Australian workers feel underpaid despite receiving pay increases, with average salary growth sitting at around 4% — effectively flat in real terms.
In banking and financial services specifically, employers are among the most cautious in their forward outlook, anticipating a pay rate change of just 3.5% over the next 12 months, below the national employer average of 3.8% and well behind the accountancy and finance sector's forecast of 4.7%.
The data paints a picture of a workforce that is staying put not out of contentment but caution.
Just 14% of banking and financial services professionals changed employers in the past year — well below the national average of 20% — yet the underlying conditions for a retention problem are clearly forming. Among those who did move, the primary drivers were a lack of career progression (38%), low salary (36%), and insufficient challenge (28%).
Hays APAC CEO Matthew Dickason (pictured) said the numbers should not lull employers into complacency.
"Employers shouldn't confuse low mobility with low dissatisfaction. Only one in five changed jobs last year, yet one in three say there's no clear promotion structure, and pay growth is only just tracking inflation. The conditions for a retention problem are building underneath stable turnover numbers," Dickason said.
The income divide is also widening. Among workers earning less than $79,000, 62% reported little to no meaningful salary growth over the past year — compared with 36% of those earning above $80,000. For junior staff in mortgage broking businesses and financial services firms, the gap between cost-of-living pressures and salary reality is particularly sharp.
One response to stagnant pay and unclear progression is upskilling — and the data suggests finance professionals are acting on it.
Nearly one in four professionals in both accountancy and finance (23%) and banking and financial services (24%) are considering further education or certification over the next 12 months. Meanwhile, 32% of accountancy and finance workers are concerned about AI-related job disruption, just above the national average of 30%.
Dickason's advice to employers was direct: "Where pay can't do all the work, progression has to. Yet many organisations still treat career pathways as an internal HR mechanism, rather than something clearly defined and visible to their people. It remains one of the most underutilised levers."
For principals and business owners in the mortgage broking sector, the Hays data is a timely signal. SEEK salary data puts the average mortgage broker role at $100,000–$120,000 as of May — but with nearly two-thirds of workers earning under $79,000 reporting stagnant pay, support staff, loan processors, and junior brokers are most exposed to the gap between pay and cost-of-living pressures.
With talent in financial services feeling undervalued and under-progressed, the firms most at risk are those without clear promotion structures or regular career conversations — regardless of whether anyone has actually handed in their notice yet.
"Workers are staying put out of caution, not contentment," Dickason said. "Progression pathways remain unclear, pay is largely stagnant in real terms, and underlying dissatisfaction is building quietly."
Download the Hays Salary Guide FY26/27 for more information.
Get the hottest and freshest property and mortgage news delivered right into your inbox. Subscribe now to our FREE daily newsletter.
