by Jenny Ruth
That’s an average of $36.5 million a month for the six months. As Kiwibank said in mid-September that its home loan book was "more than $100 million," that means growth in the last three-and-a-half months accelerated to average about $46.2 million a month.
Chief executive Sam Knowles says Kiwibank’s "aggressive" position in the home loan market is paying off and the momentum is continuing to increase.
Kiwibank’s current floating rate loan rate is 6.95% compared with 7.85% for four of the five major home lenders and National Bank’s 7.8%.
"A floating rate home loan customer with a loan of $150,000 is saving more than $1,300 a year with Kiwibank," Knowles says.
Kiwibank’s fixed term rates aren’t nearly as competitive. It is currently charging 6.85% for a three-year fixed rate loan compared with 6.95% at four of the five majors and Westpac’s 7.1%. For a loan fixed for five years, Kiwibank is currently charging 6.99%, above the 6.95% rate charged by ANZ Bank and National Bank, but below ANZ Bank’s 7.15% and Westpac’s 7.25%.
Kiwibank opened 69 branches in the six months, bringing the total to more than 280, about 80 more than its nearest rival, Westpac.
Customer numbers increased by 40,000 to 95,000 in the six months and that figure recently passed 100,000. Growth in the bank’s retail deposits is also accelerating, jumping by $200 million to $286 million.
"We are still signing up about 500 customers every business day, which is quite remarkable," Knowles says.
Kiwibank made a $6.5 million loss for the six months with compared with $10.2 million for the four-and-a-half months ended 30 June. The government-owned bank aims to become profitable within three years.
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