Kiwibank's mortgage lending accelerated in the 2nd half

Steve Jurkovich, Kiwibank

The bank’s disclosure statement showed it lent $2.64 billion in net new mortgages for the year ended June 30 with $1.42 billion of that coming in the second half, taking its mortgage book to $30.39 billion.

Kiwibank’s share of the mortgage market was 7.8% at March 31 while its accounted for 14.3% of net new lending by registered banks in the year ended June, based on RBNZ data.

Chief executive Steve Jurkovich says the government-owned back signed up a further 250 advisers during the year, taking the total to 1,536, which he estimates includes about 85% of advisers in the market by volume of loans generated.

Non-aligned advisers accounted for 57% of Kiwibank’s mortgage lending and two-thirds including the contribution of sister company New Zealand Home Loans, Jurkovich says.

However, net profit for the year ended June fell 5.4% to $191 million while net interest margin (NIM) fell to 2.25% from 2.38% the previous year.

Asked whether Kiwibank is sacrificing profit for growth, Jurkovich says “we’re probably more oriented to growth than our competitors.”

But he says Kiwibank has now repaid the last of the funding it acquired from the Reserve Bank’s funding for lending (FLP) programme while other banks still retain some of that funding.

“That was exceptionally low-cost funding.”

The covid-era FLP was instituted in late 2020 to provide three-year funding price at whatever the official cash rate (OCR) was. RBNZ lent more than $19 billion under the FLP, which ended in December 2022, and banks have still to repay $6.36 billion as of Aug 19.

Excluding business loans secured over residential property, home lending grew $2.3 billion.

Jurkovich says the bank helped 9,018 Kiwi to buy a first home while 5,752 customers refinanced with Kiwibank from other banks.

Kiwibank lent about $1 billion to businesses in the latest year, accounting for almost all net new lending to businesses by registered banks in the year.

The RBNZ’s cut in its OCR on Wednesday to 3% and signal that it will cut to 2.5% by the March quarter next year “sets the stage for a more resilient and confident recovery,” he says.

He notes that Kiwibank has doubled its balance sheet over the last five years and that it is aiming to repeat that over the next five years.

The government’s green-lighting of the bank’s parent, Kiwi Group Capital, to raise up to $500 million in capital from third parties “is designed to accelerate our growth and strengthen our competitive edge,” Jurkovich says.

“But this is about more than scale, it’s about delivering better outcomes for all New Zealanders, whether they bank with us or not.”