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Kiwibank delivers healthy growth rate with housing lending rising

Banking / news
Kiwibank delivers healthy growth rate with housing lending rising
Kiwibank

Kiwibank kept up a healthy growth rate in the March year, the latest update of the Reserve Bank's Bank Financial Strength Dashboard shows.

Total assets rose by 10.7% compared with low single-digit growth by the big four banks, ANZ ASB, BNZ and Westpac.

Kiwibank's loan book expanded by $3.36 billion, to $34.93 billion. The extra lending went mostly to housing, $2.54 billion, and business, $722 million.

Following a recommendation from the Commerce Commission's market study into personal banking services, Finance Minister Nicola Willis in December instructed Kiwibank to raise $500 million from private investors to bolster its ability to compete with the big four Australian-owned banks.

An initial public offering may be considered if the National Party-led Government wins a second term at next year's election.

Kiwibank's return on assets edged down over the March quarter from 0.6% to 0.5%. Its return on equity was 6.7%, down from 8.4% in the December quarter.

Its quarterly net interest margin was 2.2%, down from 2.3% in the December quarter, and below the big four banks' 2.3% to 2.5%.

Kiwibank will release its June-year financial results on August 21.

The table below comes from the Reserve Bank dashboard.

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