LMI Waiver for Accountants: Lender Rules 2026

An LMI waiver for accountants removes lenders mortgage insurance (LMI) from a loan of up to 90% of the property’s value at the lenders that publish a limit. The client needs a current membership of an accepted accounting body. As at October 2026, ANZ, NAB, Commonwealth Bank (CBA) and the Westpac Group brands (Westpac, St.George and BankSA) all publish a waiver that names accountants.

Membership grade, not job title or income, is the first test. A CPA Australia Associate working as a senior accountant doesn’t hold the CPA designation that ANZ and NAB name. A salaried CPA and a CPA who owns a practice both do.

Qualifying Membership

A current membership of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CA ANZ) or CPA Australia qualifies at both ANZ and NAB. NAB also names the Institute of Public Accountants (IPA), which ANZ’s flyer doesn’t list.

ANZ’s broker flyer for eligible accountants, dated August 2024 and still published in October 2026, accepts four memberships. They are CA ANZ, including members of the Global Accounting Alliance, and CPA, including recognised partnering professional bodies. The other two are the CFA Institute and Fellowship of the Institute of Actuaries of Australia (FIAA).

NAB’s LMI waiver page, as at October 2026, says a finance professional must be practising and a current registered member of an eligible institute. For accountants, it lists CA, CPA and IPA. It also lists FIAA and CFA members under its other finance professions.

CBA’s low deposit options page, as at October 2026, names accountants but doesn’t list the bodies it accepts. Westpac, St.George and BankSA broker guides, current as at 17 August 2026, list Accounting under an industry specialisation policy that depends on “approved industry accreditation”. None of the three guides names the bodies.

Membership	ANZ (August 2024 flyer)	NAB (as at October 2026)	What decides it
CA ANZ, Chartered Accountant (CA)	Accepted	Accepted	Current membership
CPA Australia, CPA designation	Accepted	Accepted	Current membership at CPA status
CPA Australia Associate member	Not named	Not named	Neither lender names the Associate grade
IPA member	Not named	Accepted	ANZ’s list doesn’t include IPA
Member of another Global Accounting Alliance body, such as ICAEW or CPA Canada	Accepted through the CA wording	Not named	ANZ’s wording includes these members
Member of a body with a CPA Australia pathway, such as ACCA	Depends on ANZ’s “recognised partnering” wording	Not named	The flyer doesn’t list the partnering bodies
CFA Institute member or FIAA	Accepted	Accepted	Listed as separate finance professions
Registered tax agent or company auditor without one of these memberships	Not named	Not named	Both lenders test membership, not registration

An auditor qualifies the same way as any other accountant. An LMI waiver for an auditor rests on an accepted membership, such as CA or CPA, because neither lender’s wording mentions auditor registration.

Membership Grade and Current Standing

The grade matters most at CPA Australia. A candidate becomes an Associate member when they start the CPA Program, and reaches CPA status only after the program and 36 months of relevant experience.

ANZ’s August 2024 flyer needs the membership to be current when the application is submitted. It accepts one of three records:

• An invoice and proof of payment from the governing body.
• An internet printout confirming current membership.
• The current year’s certificate confirming membership.

CPA Australia’s Verify a member tool confirms an individual’s membership status and designation. Save a dated copy of the result with the client’s membership record.

Here’s how the grade test reads in one hypothetical file:

• Incorrect: “She’s a senior accountant at a Big Four firm, so ANZ will waive her LMI.”
• Correct: “She holds a current CPA designation with CPA Australia, so she meets ANZ’s membership test. Her ownership share and loan size still need to pass.”

Overseas and Partner Bodies

Overseas members fit ANZ’s wording through two routes. The Global Accounting Alliance has 10 member institutes, including CA ANZ, ICAEW, CPA Canada and the Hong Kong Institute of CPAs. ANZ’s August 2024 flyer counts members of these institutes under its CA wording.

The CPA route is less clear. CPA Australia publishes membership pathways for designation holders of 28 other professional bodies, such as ACCA. ANZ’s flyer doesn’t say whether a pathway body counts as a “recognised partnering professional body”, so that case needs ANZ’s written answer before lodgement.

Employment and Income

Membership decides waiver eligibility, while the client’s employment type decides which income documents the lender reads. ANZ’s August 2024 flyer waives the premium with no minimum income and draws no line between salaried accountants and practice owners.

NAB’s page, as at October 2026, requires a finance professional to be “practising”. It doesn’t define the term or state an income test. CBA’s page, as at October 2026, publishes no role or income test for accountants.

The Westpac, St.George and BankSA guides, current as at 17 August 2026, list income among the industry policy’s requirements but don’t state the figure.

How the accountant earns	Income evidence the lender reads	Effect on the waiver test
Salaried employee of a firm or business	Payslips and the lender’s standard pay as you go (PAYG) documents	None at ANZ, which sets no minimum income or employment condition
Partner in a partnership	Partnership tax returns and financials, plus personal returns	None at ANZ
Director of a company practice	Company tax returns and financials, plus personal returns	None at ANZ. Count a salary from the company once, as personal income or as an add-back
Sole practitioner	Personal tax return with its business schedule, plus the notice of assessment (NOA)	None at ANZ

The self-employed home loan guide explains how lenders turn partnership, company and sole-practice figures into assessable income. A practice run through a trust raises separate distribution questions, which the family trust home loan guide covers.

Practice Owners and Shorter Trading History

Macquarie’s 10 September 2026 credit guidelines accept one year of income documents from a self-employed accountant who is CA ANZ, CPA or CFA qualified. The business must have traded for at least 12 months. Macquarie caps that policy at an 80% loan-to-value ratio (LVR), so it suits an accountant buying with a 20% deposit rather than a waiver loan.

Macquarie’s list doesn’t name IPA. An IPA member who owns a practice therefore uses Macquarie’s standard self-employed documents.

Public Practice and “Practising” Wording

CPA Australia issues a public practice certificate to members who run their own public practice. A salaried CPA in a company finance team holds the CPA designation but not this certificate.

ANZ’s August 2024 flyer accepts a membership or a practising certificate, so either record works there. NAB’s page doesn’t say whether “practising” means holding a public practice certificate or working in accounting. Settle NAB’s answer for any client who isn’t in public practice.

Lender Matrix

ANZ publishes the most detailed accountant waiver, and NAB, CBA and the Westpac Group publish less. The table sets out what each lender’s own document shows.

Lender	Accepted bodies	Maximum LVR without LMI	Loan size limits	Joint-applicant treatment	Income test
ANZ	CA ANZ and Global Accounting Alliance members, CPA and recognised partnering bodies, CFA Institute, FIAA	90%, on ANZ’s valuation	Borrowing of $4.5 million or less. House or townhouse valued at $5 million or less, or a unit at $4 million or less, with higher limits in some postcodes. Total ANZ home lending of $8 million or less	The accountant holds the largest or equal-largest ownership share	No minimum income
NAB	CA, CPA, IPA, CFA, FIAA	Not stated	Not stated	Not stated	Not stated
CBA	Not listed	90%, from a deposit of as little as 10%	Not stated	Not stated	Not stated
Westpac, St.George and BankSA	“Approved industry accreditation”, bodies not named	Up to 90%	Not stated	Not stated	Applies, with no figure published

The ANZ row comes from its August 2024 flyer, still published in October 2026. The NAB and CBA rows reflect their public pages as at October 2026. The Westpac Group row comes from the three brands’ broker guides, current as at 17 August 2026.

ANZ’s 10% deposit applies to principal and interest loans for owner-occupiers and investors. An interest-only period needs a different deposit, which ANZ’s business development manager (BDM) sets. ANZ also doesn’t apply the waiver automatically, so ask its BDM to add it to the application.

One Client File Across Every Lender

Run the same facts through each lender, because a waiver that passes one lender’s test can fail another’s. In this hypothetical file, Ava holds a current CPA designation and works as a salaried financial controller on $140,000 a year.

Ava is buying an $800,000 house to live in with her partner, Sam, a PAYG employee on $90,000. They each own 50%, put down $80,000 and borrow $720,000 on principal and interest repayments, which is 90% LVR.

Lender	Result for Ava and Sam	Settle before lodgement
ANZ	Meets the membership, ownership, loan size and property value tests	ANZ’s valuation must support $800,000
NAB	CPA is an accepted membership	Whether a financial controller counts as practising, and NAB’s LVR and ownership rules
CBA	The 10% deposit matches CBA’s published waiver	CBA’s accepted bodies and ownership rule
Westpac, St.George or BankSA	90% LVR is within the published limit	Whether $140,000 clears the unpublished income requirement

ANZ’s August 2024 flyer estimates the waived premium at $17,699 on an $800,000 purchase with an $80,000 deposit. A low valuation removes that saving. If ANZ values the house at $780,000, the $720,000 loan becomes 92.3% LVR, so the couple need another $18,000 to bring it back to 90%.

The LVR guide shows how lenders calculate LVR on the lower of price and valuation. The property valuation guide explains what happens when the valuation comes in short.

Joint Application Evidence

ANZ tests the accountant’s ownership share, not who earns more. With Ava and Sam at 50% each, Ava meets ANZ’s equal-largest test. If they bought at 40% for Ava and 60% for Sam, the waiver would fail at ANZ.

Collect these records for a joint application before you compare lenders:

1. The intended ownership split for each borrower, set before the contract fixes the purchasers’ names.
2. Membership evidence for the accountant borrower, in one of the forms the lender accepts.
3. Income documents for every borrower, matched to how each one earns.
4. The lender’s written answer on ownership where its waiver document states no rule, as at NAB, CBA and the Westpac Group.

If both borrowers are accountants with accepted memberships, either one can meet ANZ’s ownership test.

What a Mortgage Broker for Accountants Adds

For an accountant client, the broker compares the same file across every lender offering the waiver and confirms the membership is accepted before lodgement. That order matters because the lender with the lowest rate might reject the membership or the ownership split.

Bulma’s Policy Advisor can put one waiver question to every covered lender at once. Its comparison names the lenders whose policy doesn’t address the point, so you know which BDMs to ask before lodgement.

Record Uncertain Eligibility

When an overseas qualification, membership grade or role isn’t clearly covered by a lender’s published wording, get the lender’s written answer before you recommend that lender. These cases need it most:

• An IPA member applying to ANZ, whose August 2024 flyer doesn’t name IPA.
• A member of an overseas body outside the Global Accounting Alliance, such as ACCA, relying on ANZ’s “recognised partnering professional bodies” wording.
• A CA ANZ candidate or CPA Australia Associate who hasn’t yet reached the designation either lender names.
• An accountant outside public practice applying to NAB, whose page, as at October 2026, requires the member to be practising.
• A client on a temporary visa. ANZ’s flyer says some visas on the Medium and Long Term Strategic Skills List may be acceptable.
• A Westpac, St.George or BankSA application, where the guides current as at 17 August 2026 publish no income figure.
• A CBA application, where the page as at October 2026 lists no accepted bodies.

Follow these steps for each unclear point:

1. Write the question with the client’s exact facts: membership body, grade, country of issue, role, employer, ownership split, LVR and loan amount.
2. Send it to the lender’s BDM and ask for a written reply, such as an email.
3. Save the reply with the BDM’s name, its date and the policy document it relies on, including that document’s date.
4. Save the membership evidence and any member register search, with the date you checked it.
5. Check again if the membership renews, lapses or changes grade before the application is submitted.

The dated reply shows why you chose that lender, which supports your best interests duty record.

When the written answer, the membership evidence and the ownership split agree, include the waiver in your recommendation. When one of them doesn’t, price that lender with LMI and compare it with the other LMI waiver lenders the client qualifies for.