SBS Bank, New Zealand's largest building society, has agreed to buy 50 per cent of Staples Rodway Asset Management as part of a strategy to build scale in wealth management and lift its presence in the North Island.
Financial details of the transaction are confidential, said Wayne Evans, chief executive of SBS Group, which owns SBS Bank. The deal will add to SBS's growth and profits in the first year of ownership, he said. The bank reported net profit of $15.6 million in the 2014 financial year.
Staples Rodway Asset Management's existing shareholders are accountancy and business advisory firms that make up the Staples Rodway chartered accounts group.
Partly to support the profile raising, SBS announced a five-year fixed rate home loan of 4.99 per cent, about 100 basis points below the average five-year mortgage rate on offer, according to interest.co.nz data.
