MA Financial delivered strong third-quarter growth across lending, asset management and advisory, while warning that residential property credit conditions have forced a temporary redemption suspension. The group still expects underlying FY26 EPS to be materially higher than FY25.
- AUM rose 18% to $15.7 billion
- MA Money loan book surged 123% to $8.9 billion
- Net unlisted fund flows fell 14% to $245 million
- MA Secured Loan Series temporarily suspended applications and redemptions
- Corporate advisory transactions are expected to add $32 million in FY26 fees
Strong lending growth drives FY26 earnings momentum
MA Financial Group Limited (ASX:MAF) is entering the final quarter of FY26 with its biggest growth engine running at full pace. The MA Money residential mortgage book reached $8.9 billion at 30 September, up 123% in 12 months after adding $1.4 billion during the quarter. The group said growth should slow in 4Q26 as the broader residential lending market cools, but the expanded loan book is creating a strong earnings tailwind into FY27.
Finsure also continued to scale, with managed loans rising 19% year on year to $197 billion. Broker numbers were broadly unchanged at 3,865 as the platform focused more heavily on active brokers and efficiency. MA Financial’s Middle technology business has now helped more than 200,000 customers through the home-lending process and is processing more than $4 billion of home-loan applications each month.
Asset management expands despite weaker net flows
Group assets under management rose 18% from a year earlier to $15.7 billion, supporting recurring revenue growth. Gross unlisted fund inflows excluding institutional money climbed 11% to $710 million, but net flows fell 14% to $245 million as outflows remained elevated in private credit. No listed-market inflows were recorded during the quarter, compared with $183 million in 3Q25.
Real estate and hospitality transactions provided another source of activity. Core Real Estate transacted on $500 million of assets, including the previously reported The Glen retail deal, a $327.5 million purchase of a 50% interest in Melbourne’s The Glen Shopping Centre. The group also acquired Taigum Square Shopping Centre for $120 million, while the $50 million ECQ XL transaction seeded the new MA Large Format Retail Fund, which is targeting up to $500 million in assets. Redcape Hospitality transacted on more than $500 million of hotel venues during the quarter and is tracking towards more than $600 million of settlements in the second half.
Residential credit pressure forces redemption suspension
The sharpest note of caution sits inside the private credit portfolio. MA Financial said challenges in Australia’s residential construction and development market have delayed some asset sales and loan refinancings, weighing on investor sentiment and keeping outflows elevated. The group’s real estate credit activities represent around 15% of total AUM, according to joint CEOs Julian Biggins and Chris Wyke, and are a significantly smaller share of total earnings.
After restricting redemptions in the MA Secured Loan Series real estate credit fund to 1% of fund AUM in August, the group has now temporarily suspended all applications and redemptions. MA Financial described the move as a measure to manage the fund orderly while repayment timing remains less certain. Monthly income distributions are expected to continue, while the group said asset-backed and direct corporate lending funds, which account for about 70% of private credit AUM, continue to show favourable performance and credit quality, with less than 0.05% of AUM in 90-day-plus arrears or default.
Advisory fees add a second-half earnings lever
Corporate Advisory recorded activity across mergers and acquisitions, capital solutions and equity markets, including work for Brookfield, Bingo Industries, Tuhu Car and Eureka Group. Transactions already announced in the second half are expected to generate an additional $32 million of corporate advisory fees in FY26. Against that backdrop, MA Financial continues to anticipate that underlying EPS, excluding large notable items, will be materially higher in FY26 than FY25, with earnings weighted towards the second half.
The operating update therefore presents a split-screen result: scale is building rapidly in mortgages, technology, transactions and selected real assets, but the residential development credit cycle is testing the liquidity management of at least one fund. The next evidence will come from the timing of borrower repayments and refinancings, the path of private credit outflows and whether MA Money can sustain its contribution as mortgage-market growth moderates.
Bottom Line?
MA Financial’s earnings momentum is broad, but the redemption suspension makes the quality and timing of private credit repayments the key test for the next update.
Questions in the middle?
- How long will the MA Secured Loan Series suspension remain in place, and when will applications and redemptions resume?
- Will delayed property sales and loan refinancings lead to higher arrears or losses across the affected residential credit portfolio?
- Can MA Money maintain its earnings contribution as residential mortgage lending growth slows in 4Q26?