APRA’s wet lettuce weighing on investment lending?

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APRA released its February lending data today and there may some good news about APRA’s wet lettuce macroprudential. There are still a bunch of banks lending well above the 10% year-on-year growth threshold for investment loans:

ANZ BOQ BEN CBA HSBC ING MAC NAB SUN WBC
10.2 3.1 7.3 9.2 6.5 2.0 71.0 13.3 14.1 10.2

Here’s the chart:

234

Obviously NAB and SUN are flouting the rule and MQG is positively urinating on the regulator but a closer look shows recent sharp deceleration in raw terms:

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Too early to say if it’s fair dinkum and could be seasonal but it is encouraging in the second derivative. SUN needs a sharp reminder and MQG a regulatory wrap in the balls with a bike chain.

About the author
David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific’s leading geo-politics and economics portal. He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.