ASB and Kiwibank expand, HSBC goes backwards
ASB Bank continued to shine in the mortgage market during the March quarter and grew its profits while the government-owned Kiwibank is now probably the fifth largest player in the market, its mortgage overtaking that of HSBC's even as its profit more than doubled.
Thursday, June 15th 2006, 5:23AM
by Jenny Ruth
ASB Bank's net profit rose 8.2% to $105 million in the quarter, bringing its profit for the nine months ended March to $322 million, up 15.4% on the same nine months a year earlier.
The bank's mortgage book grew by $1.01 billion to $28.29 billion in the quarter, lifting its share of bank lending on housing to 23.9% compared with 23.7% at the end of December, using Reserve Bank figures as a proxy for the market. In March last year, ASB's share of the mortgage market was 23.2%.
Kiwibank's net profit jumped 120.6% to $5.4 million in the March quarter, bringing its profit for the nine months ended March to $10.8 million, up from $4.9 million in the same nine months a year earlier.
Kiwibank spokesman Bruce Thompson says this is in line with the bank's expectation that its full-year result will be about double that of last year's.
There was no one reason for the bank's increasing profitability other than the customers it signed up in its early start-up phase are now starting to pay off, Thompson says.
HSBC's net profit fell 6.7% to $7.7 million in the March quarter while its mortgage book shrank to $2.11 million from $2.12 million at the end of December and from $2.16 million in March last year.
The last time HSBC revealed the amount it had lent to LAQCs was in the December 2004 quarter when that part of its book stood at $587 million.
| « House price inflation abates for fourth straight month | Say goodbye to Welcome Home Loans: National » |
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