Most borrowers treat a bank as a single entity. You bank with them, so you ask “your bank” what the rate is, you get a number, and that number feels like the answer.
It isn’t. A large Australian bank is not one lender — it is a collection of lending desks that happen to share a logo. Business banking, commercial property, asset finance and the branch network each run their own credit policies, their own funding assumptions and their own pricing discretion. Two of those desks can look at borrowers with similar profiles and arrive at materially different structures.
We saw it again this month across two commercial facilities held with the same major bank: one an existing facility due for a pricing review, the other a new commercial property purchase. Same institution. Different desks. Different products, different security requirements, different pricing discretion — and different bankers with different levels of authority to use it.
Why the same bank prices the same borrower differently
Four things move independently inside a bank:
1. The desk’s mandate. A commercial property desk is measured on secured property lending. An asset finance desk is measured on equipment. Ask the wrong desk and you are not a priority file — you are an exception to be processed.
2. Credit policy is not uniform. Serviceability assessment, acceptable security, and treatment of related entities can differ between divisions of the same bank. A structure that is routine at one desk can be an escalation at another.
3. Pricing discretion sits with people, not with the brand. Most business lending carries a discretionary margin. How much of it a banker can use — and whether they use it without being asked — depends on their delegation level and how the deal is presented.
4. Existing customers are not automatically priced best. A repricing request on an existing facility and a new-to-bank purchase are two different competitive situations inside the same institution. It is entirely possible for the same bank to compete harder for the deal it does not yet have.
What that difference is actually worth
On a seven-figure commercial facility, the gap between an unexamined offer and a properly contested one is not a rounding error. Over a year, on a loan of this size, the difference in total cost can be the equivalent of a part-time salary. Over a five-year hold, it can fund the deposit on the next property.
That is the point worth internalising: the money is not made by finding a secret lender. It is made by knowing that the first number you are given is one desk’s number, not the market’s.
What we do about it
- Establish where the file actually belongs before it is submitted. The right desk for a commercial property purchase is not always the desk the borrower already banks with.
- Ask for a review rather than accept a renewal. An existing facility rolling over on autopilot is the most expensive thing in most business owners’ finance stack, precisely because nobody looks at it.
- Present the file so the discretion gets used. Bankers apply discretion to files that are complete, clearly structured and easy to approve. A file that creates work rarely gets the sharp end of the range.
- Keep a live comparison. Where a competing institution has already assessed and approved a comparable facility, that is a fact — and facts are what move pricing.
The financial-IQ takeaway
Improving your banking knowledge is not about memorising products. It is about understanding that “the bank said no” and “the bank said this is the rate” are both incomplete sentences. Which bank? Which desk? Which banker? Assessed under which policy?
On a small personal loan those questions are worth very little. On a multi-million dollar commercial facility they are worth more per hour than almost anything else a business owner can do with their time.
General information only. This article does not take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. Consider whether the information is right for you and seek professional advice before making credit decisions. Jack (Muyuan) Si is a Credit Representative (516785) of Buyers Choice Licencing Pty Ltd ACN 626 172 281 (Australian Credit Licence No. 509484).