Dynamic Business: Top four banks hold their places

Our 'Top 4' banks have combined assets of $341.2b. From left: David Hisco CEO ANZ, David McLean CEO (Acting) Westpac, Anthony Healy CEO BNZ, Barbara Chapman CEO ASB.

The top financial institutions have held their positions on the Top 30 rankings for financial institutions despite fierce competition in the sector.

Financial institutions are ranked by the total assets they hold as opposed to revenue, and are separated from the Top 200 list.

Unsurprisingly the "Top 4" -- the NZ offshoots of Australian banks like ANZ, Westpac, BNZ and ASB -- dominate the rankings. ANZ remains at the top of the list for 2014, boasting assets of $120.4 billion and generating profits in excess of $1.3 billion.

There is a substantial gap between first and second placegetters. Westpac's NZ asset base is just under two-thirds that of ANZ.

Just one one company -- Suncorp Group -- has dropped out of the Top 10 financial institutions compared with the 2013 rankings. Suncorp had a 20.6 per cent reduction in NZ assets forcing it from tenth position to make way for the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi.

Despite being the second-largest holder of assets among the financial institutions, Westpac is only the fourth largest equity holder, with a 13.3 per cent drop in total equity year on year -- the only financial institution in the top five to see their equity drop.

Kiwibank saw the biggest proportional change amongst the top five companies, growing their assets by 9.6 per cent over the past year while also seeing healthy growth across the board -- improving revenue, profit and equity numbers.

They still have a long way to go before they can be considered a true competitor to the big four New Zealand banks.

IAG New Zealand, our largest insurer and the seventh ranked company among the financial institutions, reported positive growth of their bottom line. Yet IAG still failed to make a profit -- $2.8 million in the red off the back of more than $1.6 billion in revenue.

The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi substantially increased its asset holdings, growing by more than $700 million in the past year and improving revenue to $120.8 million; a 24 per cent improvement yet still in the bottom quartile for financial institutions.

ASB Group (Life) is the only newcomer to the list of financial institutions.

The primary operations of the group are insurance and investment management, with the main trading entity from the group Sovereign Assurance. Because their figures are not consolidated with the ASB Bank accounts they are considered a separate entity.

Both Tower and Deutschebank reported a significant decline in revenue, 39.5 and 40.3 per cent respectively, which hurt the bottom lines for both companies.

Just missing out on making the list were Fuji Xerox Finance and CBL Insurance -- neither of whom have featured in the Financial Top 30 before but will be close contenders next year -- particularly if Fuji Xerox continue their strong asset growth, which was 22 per cent up over the past year.