(29 October 2015 – New Zealand) BNZ's announced that its annual profit passed the NZ$1 billion (A$940 million) mark for the first time, however a gloomy economic outlook has seen the lender set aside cash reserves for bad debts .
In a statement released earlier this week, the bank said statutory profit for the last 12 months increased from $850 million to a record $1.04 billion.
BNZ chief executive Anthony Healy said it was taking a cautious approach to the economic environment.
“We've taken a through-the-cycle view on provisioning,” he said. Adding that asset quality in the bank’s agricultural and dairy book remained “extremely sound”.
“We are well-placed to continue supporting our farming customers through a more volatile trading period.”
Loans rose 5.9 per cent to $68.2 billion, while customer deposits lifted 2.9 per cent to $46.7 billion, the bank said.
Although BNZ has given up home loan and credit card market share to competitors, Healy said it had grown its share of the business and commercial banking segments, to approximately 25 percent and 31 percent respectively.