Co-operative Bank grows mortgage book, gains new CEO

The former PSIS also gained a new chief executive, Bruce McLachlan, who was previously a senior Westpac executive for the last 10 years, including nine months as acting chief executive and periods heading both the business and retail divsions.

"The potential of this business is huge," McLauchlan says, adding he really likes the fact the bank is a co-operative.

While Co-operative is clearly much smaller than Westpac, "a lot of the banking challenges are the same, regardless of scale."
The previous acting chief executive Gareth Fleming has returned to his role as marketing and products general manager.

The bank's March quarter disclosure statement shows the mortgage book grew by $9.4 million to $1.1 billion in the three months and by $54.4 million in the year ended March.