KEY POINTS:
State-owned Kiwibank has announced a half year audited profit of $22.7 million after tax, compared to $17.2m for the same period last year.
Total lending, including home loans, business banking and credit cards, for the six months to the end of December increased 34 per cent to $4.8 billion. That included $600m of loans acquired from HSBC, the bank said today.
Retail deposits increased 20 per cent to $4b, and Kiwibank has nearly 600,000 customers.
Kiwibank chief executive Sam Knowles said the bank was building on early work in developing a strong customer base and competing aggressively in the loan and deposit markets.
The growth of business banking services had been pleasing, with business banking total lending exceeded the $1b mark during December.
Uncertainty in the financial sector had continued to drive strong retail deposits for Kiwibank, attracting $392m of term deposits for the period and increasing the online call account by $189m.
The growth in the home loan book was affected by the slowing housing market, although Kiwibank had been able to maintain competitive interest rates compared with the Australian-owned banks, Mr Knowles said.
Kiwibank incurred $10.3m in tax for the six-month period.
- NZPA
