Aussie's profit line grows

The profit rebound represents a lift for Commonwealth Bank, which snapped up a 33 per cent stake in Aussie at the height of the global financial crisis.

Aussie's latest accounts show a net profit of $31.4 million for the year to June 30. This was up on the $22.6 million in 2009, according to a filing with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.

The business, chaired by John Symond, generated revenue of $202.7 million in 2009-10, representing a 23.4 per cent increase on the previous year. Dividends of $11.3 million were paid over the past year, with the total split between Commonwealth Bank and Mr Symond's private investment vehicle.

Aussie generates most of its income from mortgage broking while mortgage origination still represents a significant source of business.

Mr Symond is widely known as breaking the banks' stranglehold on the home-loan market in the 1990s. In a submission to the Senate inquiry into banking competition, Mr Symond rejected the creation of a state-owned lender as a way to undermine the big four's domination of the mortgage sector.

A better option to boost competition would be for the government to continue, and even increase, its $16 billion support for the residential mortgage-backed securities market. The market provided cheap debt so non-banks could offer well-priced home loans, he said.

The latest accounts also show that the payment pool for Aussie's seven-member board rose over the past year to $3.8 million from $2.7 million a year earlier.