ASB Bank lifts profit to $440 million

Economic slowdown has left ASB Bank unscathed with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia unit reporting a 16 per cent increase in its June year net profit to $440 million.

ASB had a $217m first half net profit.

Chairman Gary Judd said strong market share growth across all banking segments and customer retention were behind the record profit.

He said the bank had been rewarded for its commitment to customer service and technology leadership in preference to the one-off offers and marketing claims of other traditional and new market participants.

"Customers want value for money... It is through the consistency of our approach, focusing on our customers, that ASB is growing faster than our main bank competitors and the market," he said.

The bank lifted pre-tax profit to $634m, while its tax rose 8.4 per cent to $194m.

Total operating income rose 10 per cent to $1.148 billion, with interest margin down from 2.2 per cent to a record low of 1.9 per cent.

Mr Judd said the margin underlined the competitiveness of the market.

Total assets increased by 15 per cent during the year to $44.5 billion and at year end total advances were at $39 billion, an increase of 11.5 per cent.

Mr Judd said no market segment had been more competitive than mortgage lending, and in addition to retaining leadership position in the important Auckland market, ASB nationally had increased its residential mortgage lending by 16 per cent to $29.2 billion.

While housing activity cooled during the second half of the year, the market remained active, and would continue to do so as shorter, fixed-term mortgages were refinanced, he said.

A key driver of overall growth in the year was growth in its business, rural and corporate banking divisions.

By applying its retail strengths of service and product innovation to those segments, Mr Judd said ASB was positioning itself as an emerging leader.

During the year business banking increased its lending by 16 per cent, rural banking by 15 per cent and corporate banking by 42 per cent.

ASB's Treasury operations also recorded strong growth, lifting income by 31 per cent.

Deposits from customers, other banks and the money market increased by 14 per cent to stand at $41.1b at period end.

Funds under management sold through the bank reached $2.07b, an increase of 13.6 per cent over 2005.

Its online FastSaver service recorded unprecedented growth for a savings account in an 18-month period, with deposits in excess of $3b.

The bank's ratio of total operating expenses to total operating income fell sharply from 45 per cent to 43.1 per cent.

The bank's return on total average assets was unchanged at 1.1 per cent.

- NZPA