Private Banking Mortgages: What a Bank's Private Bank Offers You
A private banking mortgage is bank credit on relationship terms, not a private lender. What it offers business owners, who qualifies and the trade-offs.
Business Owners
Private Banking Mortgage · Relationship Pricing · Self-Employed
Your business banks well, your company holds the profits, and the bank has invited you to its private bank. Here is what a private banking mortgage really offers a business owner, what it asks for in return, and how it differs from a private lender.
Quick Answer
A private banking mortgage is a home or investment loan from a major bank's private banking division, priced and structured around your whole relationship with that bank, and it is not a loan from a private lender. It follows the same credit rules as any bank loan; what changes is the banker, the flexibility and what the bank asks for in return. For loans from funders outside the banks, see private lending.
Also called: private bank home loan, private wealth mortgage, private client home loan. All three describe a bank loan on relationship terms; none of them is a loan from a private lender.
What is a private banking mortgage?
A private banking mortgage is a home or investment loan written by a bank's private banking division for clients the bank wants to keep for the long term. The loan itself is ordinary bank credit. The difference is the wrapper around it: a named banker, pricing linked to the relationship and more room to structure the deal.
Picture a company director whose business holds strong cash and property, but whose personal taxable income swings from year to year because most of the profit stays in the company. The business already banks with one of the major banks. A relationship manager calls, and an invitation to the private bank follows. That is the usual way in: the bank comes to you, or your accountant introduces you. We will follow that director through the rest of this insight.
A private bank is not a private lender. A private lender is a non-bank funder lending its own or investors' money, usually short term and secured on property. If that is the product you are actually weighing up, our guide to private mortgage lenders covers how they work, what they cost and how to check one.
What does a private bank offer on a home loan that a branch loan does not?
A private bank offers better terms around the loan, not a different set of lending rules. For a business owner, four things usually change:
- Relationship pricing. The rate and fees can sit below the bank's standard pricing, with the discount set against the deposits, investments and borrowing you hold with the bank. It is indicative and varies by bank.
- Larger and more complex loans. Borrowing can be structured across several properties and entities, including a trust or company, where the bank can see the whole group.
- Structuring flexibility. Interest only periods, split loans, offset arrangements and lines of credit are often easier to negotiate as part of one relationship.
- A named banker with credit discretion. One person knows your file, presents it to credit and can explain lumpy income in context instead of leaving it to a form.
What it does not offer is a looser rulebook. Credit policy is still the bank's credit policy, and the loan is still regulated bank lending. The banker can argue the case harder; the banker cannot waive the rules that apply to every loan the bank writes.
Who qualifies for private banking in Australia?
Each bank sets its own test for private banking, and no single entry threshold holds across the market. The test is usually a mix of income, investable assets and total borrowing with the bank, weighed differently by each bank and sometimes by each banker.
For business owners, the useful point is that business wealth held in a company or trust may count where the bank can see it, typically because the business banks there too. A director with a modest personal wage but a well-funded company, like the one in our example, can look like a strong private banking client on the relationship view even when the personal tax return looks ordinary.
Whether you need private banking at all to borrow at the top end is a separate question, covered in our guide to self-employed home loans over $2 million.
How does a private bank read a self-employed owner's income?
A private bank reads a self-employed owner's income under the same APRA settings as a branch loan, so wealth does not switch off the serviceability test. Banks apply a serviceability buffer of 3 percentage points, at the time of writing, on top of the loan rate when they test whether you can repay. APRA also allows banks to write up to 20 per cent of new owner-occupied and investment lending at a debt-to-income ratio of six times or more, with the limit applied to each separately, as confirmed in APRA's May 2026 statement on its macroprudential settings. Those settings apply inside the private bank exactly as they do at the branch.
What changes is who reads the file and how much context they accept. What lenders actually look at first is income they can verify and repeat, and then how far your debts stretch it. A private banker can put the whole picture in front of credit: the business accounts the bank already sees, the company's retained profits, and the history of the relationship. That context can matter at the margins of serviceability; it cannot replace income evidence.
How does the director's file play out at each desk?
At the retail credit team, our director's file is read largely from two years of personal tax returns. The wage is modest because the profit was left in the company, so the serviceable income looks thin and the loan size comes out lower than the business suggests it should be.
At the private bank, the banker builds the file around the group. The company's trading history, cash and banking conduct are already visible, so the case for treating more of the company's earnings as available income is easier to make, within the bank's policy. In deals I've seen, that can lift the loan to a size the branch would not reach. It can also still fall short, because the buffer and the bank's income rules have not moved.
When it falls short, the answer is usually a loan that reads business income differently rather than a better banker. Our self-employed home loans guide explains how full doc, low doc and alt doc assessment differ, and every path open to a director is compared side by side in company director mortgage options.
Private banking mortgage or private lender: what is the difference?
A private banking mortgage is regulated bank credit on relationship terms, while a private lender is a non-bank funder lending against property, usually for speed or when bank policy says no. The two sit at opposite ends of the market, as the table shows.
| Question | Private banking mortgage | Private lender |
|---|---|---|
| Who lends the money | A major bank, through its private banking division | A non-bank funder, mortgage fund or private investors |
| Regulation | Bank lending under APRA's prudential settings, including the serviceability buffer | Not a bank, so APRA's bank settings do not apply; consumer credit rules depend on the loan's purpose |
| How income is assessed | Full bank serviceability, read with relationship context | Security and exit led; income typically read lightly, varies by funder |
| Typical cost (indicative) | At or below the bank's standard pricing, varies by bank | Typically well above bank pricing, plus establishment fees |
| Speed (indicative) | Bank timelines, sometimes quicker with a banker pushing the file | Typically days to a few weeks |
| Security taken | First mortgage, sometimes cross-collateral or guarantees | First or second mortgage, usually at a lower LVR |
| Who it suits | Owners with strong wealth and a file the bank can approve | Owners who need speed or fall outside bank policy, with a clear exit |
Sources: APRA, APRA maintains current macroprudential policy settings, published 28 May 2026. Read 13 October 2026.
If the private lender column is where your deal sits, start with our private lending page, and read how private mortgage lenders operate before you sign a term sheet. If the loan would sit on the home you live in, consumer credit rules apply whoever lends, as set out in private home loans. You can read more on private lending in our glossary.
What does a private bank ask for in return?
A private bank asks for more of your banking in return for better loan terms, and that trade is the real decision. What the bank asks for in return usually includes some of the following:
- Your transaction and business accounts. The relationship pricing assumes the bank sees your money moving, including the business.
- Balances or investments. Minimum deposits, a managed portfolio or term deposits, held with the bank, varies by bank.
- Fees. Package fees, advisory fees or account fees that sit outside the loan.
- Security across the group. Cross-collateral across properties, or guarantees from a company or trust.
- Annual reviews. The bank checks the relationship and the financials each year.
What happens if balances or income fall is the question most owners skip. The loan is not usually called in, but the relationship discount can be reviewed, typically at the next annual review, and cross-collateral makes it harder to move one property to another lender later. Ask how the pricing is reviewed before you move your business accounts.
When does private banking suit a business owner, and when does it not?
Private banking suits a business owner when the bank can already approve the loan and the relationship terms are worth more than the banking you give up. It does not suit an owner whose problem is income the bank will not read.
In the sweet spot
- Strong, verifiable income that services under bank rules
- Significant wealth the bank can see, personally or in the business
- Happy to move business and personal banking to one bank
- A larger or multi-property loan that benefits from structuring
Outside the sweet spot
- Taxable income too low to service, even with context
- Recent tax returns not lodged, or only one year of trading
- A settlement deadline the bank cannot meet
- Banking spread across lenders you do not want to consolidate
Where your file sits on the right, a different kind of loan usually does more than a better banker. A one doc home loan reads business income from a single document, and alt doc loans read BAS or business bank statements. Where speed or policy is the problem, private lending can bridge the gap with an exit back to a bank. More guides for owners sit in our Business Owners Hub, and you can check eligibility before you take the private bank's offer.
A private banking mortgage is bank credit with a relationship wrapped around it: relationship pricing, a named banker and more flexible structuring, under the same APRA settings and credit policy as any branch loan. It is not a private lender. For a business owner with strong wealth and income the bank can verify, the terms can be worth having. The price is concentrating your banking with one bank and accepting what it asks for in return.
Key takeaway: compare the private bank's offer against a loan that reads your business income properly, not just against the branch.Frequently Asked Questions
A private banking mortgage is a home or investment loan written by a major bank's private banking division for clients with high income or significant wealth. It is ordinary bank credit, assessed under the bank's credit policy and the same serviceability rules as any branch loan. What changes is the relationship around it: a named banker, pricing linked to what you hold with the bank and more room to structure the loan.
Private banking is not the same as a private lender, even though the names sound alike. A private bank is a division of a major bank lending regulated bank money, while a private lender is a non-bank funder lending its own or investors' money, usually at a higher cost and for a shorter term. The private lending guide explains how private lenders work and how to check one.
The downsides of a private banking home loan usually sit in what the bank asks for in return rather than in the loan itself. Expect to move your transaction and business accounts, hold balances or investments with the bank, possibly pay package or advisory fees, and accept annual reviews or cross-collateral across properties. If balances or income fall, the relationship discount can be reviewed, typically at the next review, so compare it with the options in our self-employed home loans guide.
A self-employed person can get private banking where the bank sees enough income, wealth or total borrowing across the relationship, and business owners are a core part of most private banking client books. Business wealth held in a company or trust may count where the bank can see it, usually because the business banks there too. The loan is still assessed for serviceability on income the bank can verify, so lumpy taxable income can still limit the loan size.
Private banks often offer home loan rates below the bank's standard pricing, but the discount is relationship pricing, indicative and varies by bank. The discount is usually tied to the balances, investments and borrowing you bring, and it can be reviewed if those fall. For a business owner who does not want to move their whole banking relationship, a specialist loan that reads business income differently, such as a one doc home loan, may be the better comparison.
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