BNZ makes loss on tax case; mortgage book grows strongly

BNZ is appealing the tax case but provided $661 million against its nine months result, leading to a reported $183m net loss compared with a $597 million net profit in the same nine months a year earlier, its latest general disclosure statement shows.

Since it had reported a $400 million net profit for the six months ended March, it made a $217 million net loss in the third quarter.

Increasing charges for bad loans also dragged down the result with BNZ increasing this charge by $43 million in the June quarter, taking charges for the nine months to $142 million. Mortgages accounted for only $27 million of the nine-month charges.

By contrast, net interest income rose 2.8% to $331 million in the quarter and by 3.2% to $1.04 billion in the nine months ended June.