Exiting car lending “will enable us to further prioritise the growth of our home loan and deposit offerings”, Mr Perham said.

“Our leading digital experiences for those products are built on best-in-class technology platforms, and we see significant opportunity to continue investing in them to attract more customers to Macquarie.”

Macquarie’s car lending has continued to run on its ‘legacy’ technology systems.

Macquarie has been winding down the automotive area for several years: in 2019 its car loan book was $15.2 billion. This has fallen to $4.8 billion, as of December 31, just 3.5 per cent of all lending by its Banking and Financial Services (BFS) group.

Other major banks have also withdrawn from automotive finance. Westpac exited car lending in 2021, offloading a vehicle dealer finance and novated leasing businesses to Angle Auto Finance, with $1 billion in loans.

Also in the second half of 2021, Macquarie sold its separate auto dealer finance business, which had a $670 million loan book, to Allied Credit Group.

Macquarie will communicate with brokers, who write most of its auto loans, about the decision on Monday. It will say that loans submitted by this Wednesday will continue to be assessed under existing policies, and must be settled by May 17.

Mr Perham said the new focus will allow Macquarie to continue its march in home loans and deposits. Macquarie, along with ANZ, has gained – mostly at the expense of Commonwealth Bank – over the past year. CBA’s mortgage market share fell 64 basis points to 25.2 per cent in the year to January, while Macquarie has also been growing faster in deposits by offering some of the highest returns on savings accounts.

CBA’s deposit market share fell by around 30 basis points in the same year to January period, as Macquarie has boosted its share by 15 basis points, cementing itself as Australia’s fifth major bank.