Co-op bank gallops ahead of the market

The Co-operative Bank has continued its above market lending growth, adding $218 million to its book in the 12 months ending March 31.

Over the period, its mortgage book grew 8% to just over $3 billion from $2.78 billion in the year prior. During this period the system growth, or the overall growth of the home lending market was 3.1%.

"It was the second year in a row we have grown our home loan value at more than twice the market, adding about $422 million to our balance sheet over the past two years, including $218 million of home loan growth in the past year. This has taken our total home loan portfolio to $3 billion," chief executive Mark Wilkshire says.

"We will continue to try and grow above market," he says.