Rates Round Up: April 16
New Zealand’s banks recorded an increase in profitability in the December quarter, despite their total assets shrinking by more than $6 billion.
Accounting firm KPMG’s Financial Institutions Performance Survey for the quarter showed that total assets at the big four Australian-owned banks plus Kiwibank, SBS Bank and TSB dropped to $362.2 billion, from $368.3 million in the September quarter.
However, net profit after tax across the firms increased to $1.147 billion in the quarter, up $77 million from the September quarter and nearly double the $584 million profit recorded in the March 2011 quarter.
Despite media reports of surging house prices, residential mortgages across the banks increased by only 0.9% in the quarter to $168.9 billion.
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