Notches up net full-year profit of $131 million
Kiwibank has announced its strongest financial year results in the history of the bank, driven by higher revenue and a continued focus on costs.
The state-owned bank recorded a net profit after tax of $131m for the 12 months to 30 June 2022, up 4% on FY21 and a net interest income of $630m, up from $528m in FY21.
The FY22 highlights for Kiwibank included partnering with more mortgage advisers (the channel of choice for many home buyers) and committing to supporting advisers.
The bank also launched Co-own to provide more options for first home buyers trying to get into the property market, as well as new digital home loan simulation tools that support customers to make informed decisions about their financial futures.
Kiwibank also continued to invest heavily in building a better bank for the future and marked its 20th anniversary by revealing its biggest brand transformation in a decade.
Kiwibank chief executive Steve Jurkovich (pictured above) said the bank once again outperformed the market across home loan and business lending as it continued to grow its share of the banking market to become the bank of choice.
“Our results and our continued success mean $131m of profit stays right here in Aotearoa, allowing us to have even more impact for New Zealand in the year ahead as we deliver on our purpose of making Kiwis better off,” Jurkovich said.”
“We experienced home lending growth of $1.8bn which was driven by a strong first half of the year that slowed in the second half due to the consequences of changes to CCCFA, LVR restrictions, a cooling housing market and rising interest rates.”
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Jurkovich said potential buyers were being a lot more circumspect – whether that was first home buyers holding off, existing owners looking to upsize, or property investors taking a wait-and-see approach.
“History shows that different cycles occur and the market will recover,” he said.
“At the same time, we continue to make great progress supporting our customers to achieve their home ownership goals.”
Jurkovich said Kiwibank was on target to meet its goals to support all children to have access to quality financial education by 2030.
He said the bank was also on target to help two million New Zealanders secure their financial futures by 2030 and provide $2bn of financial support to SMEs towards their sustainability journey by 2030.
“In FY22 we have reduced our emissions by 20% from last year, started the transition of our nation-wide vehicle fleet to EVs with a target of 50% to be fully electric by the end of FY23, delivered 20,000 credit and debit cards made of recycled plastic to Kiwibank customers, saving 50kg of plastic from landfill and established a partnership with Recycle a Device, a charity where Kiwibank will donate used computers into the community,” Jurkovich said.
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He said business banking growth of $0.7bn was achieved by supporting more customers than ever to take action to achieve their business goals, as the bank continued to invest in building the capability of its specialist business banking team.
“More and more businesses are choosing Kiwibank because they regard us as a trusted Kiwi brand with a strong offering and clear sense of what we stand for,” he said.
“They also recognise that we are a Kiwi business like them that are often competing with larger offshore-owned competitors.”
Jurkovich said the bank continued to monitor and assess the impact of rising interest rates and inflationary pressures on its customers and urged anyone experiencing difficultly to get in touch if they needed help.
“If you think you need help then don’t hesitate to give us a call. The sooner you do so, the easier it is for us to work through a solution with you,” he said.
“Looking ahead, we are focused on an offering that is simple, easy and accessible for customers and to providing expertise around the products and services that make Kiwi better off. This will support our ultimate goal of being the first choice in banking for customers.”
