by Jenny Ruth
Kiwibank reported an $8.04 million loss for the year, down from last year’s $10.2 million loss. Chief executive Sam Knowles says Kiwibank’s original business case envisaged it would become profitable after three years and that it is on track to make a profit in the year ending June 2005.
The bank’s deposits rose from $86 million to $465 million over the year while total assets grew from $177.1 million to $771.4 million. Net interest income climbed from $2.4 million to $10.3 million.
Customer numbers grew by 115,000 to 147,000, an average of about 400 a day, as branches rose from 232 to 287. Kiwibank has more branches than any other bank operating in New Zealand.
Knowles described it as "a very satisfactory year for the bank."
"We are not only growing our customer base, but existing customers are bringing more of their banking business across to Kiwibank," he says.
The bank also released figures showing it is gaining hearts and minds as well as customers. A UMR Insight poll conducted in July showed 74% now believe that starting Kiwibank was a good idea. The nadir of support was in August 2001 when only 46% thought it was a good idea.
The poll found that opposition has also drastically declined from its peak at 45% in August 2001 to just 19%.
The bank also released figures showing that profits of all banks, which are mostly foreign owned and mostly by Australians, have risen from 0.9% of gross domestic product, or $796 million, in 1994 to 2.34% of GDP, or $2.6 billion, in 2002.
Kiwibank is owned by New Zealand Post, which in July said it would invest another $40 million in capital in Kiwibank because its growth was ahead of its projections.
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