BNZ mortgage book grows, profit falls

BNZ's March quarter net profit shrank sharply, mainly due to a jump in its charges for impaired loans although net interest income also fell slightly.

BNZ's March quarter general disclosure statement shows its residential mortgages book grew by $458 million to $24.68 billion after shrinking $22 million in the December quarter.

Using Reserve Bank figures as a proxy for the market, its market share grew slightly from 15.6% to 15.7% over the three months.

The bank had a further $2.43 billion in mortgages off balance sheet at March 31, mainly loans approved but not yet drawn down, up from $2.16 billion at December 31.