Kiwibank accelerated mortgage lending in its first half

Chief executive Steve Jurkovich says actual lending will be a combination of additional home and business lending.

In the latest six months ended Dec 31, Kiwibank’s mortgage lending continued to accelerate, growing by $1.6 billion, and the bank said that was 1.6 times the growth in the total market, accounting for 13% of all net new banking lending on mortgages.

Kiwibank’s disclosure statement showed its on-balance sheet mortgage book stood at almost $32 billion at Dec 31, up from $30.39 billion at June 30 and up from $29.18 billion a year earlier.

However, its net interest margin (NIM) fell 7 basis points to 2.18% compared with June 30 and was down 11bp from the previous first-half.