As the 2025 financial year draws to a close, National Australia Bank (NAB) offers insights and an updated lending playbook for commercial brokers.
The major's commercial platform – NAB Commercial Broker – hosted a webinar entitled "Regional & Agri Webinar" earlier this week, hosted by Chris Thomas, executive NAB commercial broker and equipment finance, where brokers gained fresh perspectives on lending trends, sector growth opportunities and smart strategies for for end-of-financial-year planning.
Also on the panel was Khan Horne, NAB's executive for business regional and agribusiness; John Shillington, NAB's head of commercial broker equipment finance in Victoria and Tasmania; Lisa Fletcher, regional and agri senior business banking manager at NAB; and Adam Hall, NAB's senior specialized banking manager, trade and working capital.
Australian Broker rounded up a few key takeaways.
Horne emphasized the major's scale and accessibility within the broker channel.
“We’ve got dedicated brokers, full-time bankers, like Lisa [Fletcher], across Australia. In fact, there's 54,” he said. "And they aren't postcode 3000-bound, They’ll go out to see the customer and the broker, and workshop a deal at the table.”
Brokers now account for 76.8% of the residential home loan market, according to the most recent figures from the Mortgage & Finance Association of Australia (MFAA), while commercial broking sits at just 30% to 40% – leaving plenty of white space to capture. With growing pressure to diversify, industry insiders say that share is likely set to rise.
NAB's boots-on-the-ground model is designed to support regional and agri clients, Horne said, with brokers as the critical element.
Fletcher added that nearly all her clients come through broker introductions, underscoring just how crucial it is for brokers to broaden their skill sets.
"As a dedicated broker/ banker, and like my other dedicated bankers, we don't specialize anymore," she said. "I have customers in agri, and customers in commercial [lending]; I have professional services customers, whether that's accountants, solicitors and house guys. But most importantly, I only have broker-dedicated customers.
"This has been super successful," Fletcher said. "For me, personally, my relationships with the brokers are consistent; they're stronger. We're dealing with the same brokers day-in, day-out. They're dealing with the same bankers as well, day-in, day-out. It's built transparency with the brokers. There's less confusion of who to go to. And it's ultimately built efficiencies in the business – whether that's around commission payments, using our AOL process. All of those little intricacies that are specific to the broker deal. So we've really sped up those processes, and also [there are] less errors, obviously, once you continue to do these things. So it's been super successful."
A central theme was the strategic value of end-of-year planning for brokers and clients alike.
"It's a very exciting time, especially for the financial nerds on the call today," Shillington said. "End of financial year doesn't get any better. And there's lots of opportunities here where we can be supporting our customers and making sure they're getting great advice to turn what was a good year into a great year.
"It is after the financial year that the customer started to think about their tax planning," he continued. "And obviously, preparing for the end of [the] financial year, there's a lot of paperwork and record keeping, which is really critical to making sure that they can round out what has been a good year, and make a great year as they move into FY26."
Shillington said some things for brokers to keep in mind include, record keeping, hiring and contractors, ATO requirements, superannuation requirements and making sure everything is documented and declared correctly.
Other key EOFY considerations included:
Consumer confidence is climbing across Australia – housing included – following two interest rate reductions by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) in 2025, with more potentially on the horizon.
“The house call is for another three [cuts] before Christmas,” Horne said.
Market optimism and deal flows have been on an upward trajectory since the cuts, with some big deal settlements coming through, he said.
"It's going to be a big June and July," Horne said. "Definitely generating a lot of activity. I think the economy is traveling well.
"There's also optimism now that [people] know the government is in place," he said. "There's reasonable population in the country [of] Australia; there's still good opportunities. The home lending market is just super competitive … the housing shortage is just so paramount in the country… And then [we're] seeing people just put a lot of focus to build really good infrastructure."
While brokers may instinctively think of Teslas or rooftop solar panels when referring to green lending, NAB’s data tells a broader story.
"The third highest item, under green asset finance, is forklifts – electric forklifts. Seventy-one in the last year," Horne said. "I think some people forget about some of the major day-to-day items they buy."
Shillington said commercial customers may be eligible for discounts when funding sustainable lending investments.
"What that means for you and for the customers is that it's an opportunity for them to probably invest in their business with things that they're thinking about already – whether that's making their business more productive, or making their business more sustainable," he explained. "And as they're investing into their business around those two key pieces, they can actually access the capital funding and need for that on a discounted rate."
Shillington added that equipment finance is "a great opportunity for both our brokers and also for our bankers, to add those practical conversations around it with their customers."
Fletcher stressed the importance of tailoring solutions to client’s individual needs.
"NAB can tailor our equipment finance products for the customers, whether that's chunky cash flow, seasonality with farmers. We can do seasonal payments; we can do leases with interest in advance if they've had a crappy year and want to help with their tax planning," she explained. "And we can also look at specialized equipment, which some other banks might not touch.
"So really engaging those guys and working through a more tailored product for your customer – not just the set-and-forget every month payment," she said.
