Advisers originating fewer BNZ mortgages

Its results presentation pack shows that only 42% of its housing loans in the six months ended March were originated through advisers, down from 47.6% in the six months ended September and 46.8% in the six months ended March last year.

Adviser-originated mortgages now account for 38.9% of BNZ’s $62.1 billion mortgage book, up from 38% at Sept 30, when the book was worth $60.1 billion, and from 36.3% at March 31 last year, when the book was worth $58.8 billion.

BNZ said its home lending was up 5.6% in the latest six months from the same six months last year while deposits rose by $5.4 billion, or 6.8%.

The bank says that the growth in deposits was1.5 times the banking system growth, based on RBNZ data, while home lending growth was 3 times system.

The bank reported a 4.3% rise in statutory net profit to $795 million for the six months after it wrote back $28 million in charges against profit for bad debts in previous periods. NAB’s statutory net profit fell 2.5% to A$3.41 billion for the six months.

Chief executive Dan Huggins said the economy “appears to be at a turning point,” but the environment is still challenging.    

Despite uncertainty driven by global trade and tariff tensions, “New Zealand’s economic fundamentals have improved,” Huggins said.

BNZ supported nearly 6,000 people in buying homes with nearly a third being first-home buyers.

Huggins said more than 50,000 New Zealanders switched to BNZ in the latest six months “as we continue to invest in more frontline bankers to improve customer service levels, reduce wait times and open all our branches five days a week.”

BNZ said its net interest margin (NIM) rose three basis points to 2.4% compared with the previous first half but NAB’s slides showed NZ banking NIM at 2.37% in the latest six months, up from 2.34% in the September half year and unchanged from the first half last year.

NZ NIM ex markets was 2.76%, down from 2.79% in the September half year and from 2.88% in the first half last year.

Despite the write-back of bad debt charges, payments on mortgages more than 90 days past due rose slightly to 0.21% of the book from 0.2% in September but was down from 0.24% in the first-half last year.
Impaired loans fell to 0.09% of the book from 0.12% in September but was unchanged from the first half last year.

Interest-only mortgages eased to 18.3% of the book from 18.4% in September but was up from 18% at March 31 last year.

Mortgages to investors grew slightly to 33.8% from 33.7% in September and 33.6% at March 31 last year.
Reflecting expectations interest rates will fall further, variable rate mortgages rose to 12.1% from 9.6% in September and 8.9% at March 31 last year.