Teachers Mutual grows mortgage book by more than 12%

An increase in retail deposits and continued solid growth in home loans have resulted in another robust performance by the bank in 2015.

Teachers Mutual achieved greater deposit growth than the rest of the industry, with an almost 11 per cent increase in retail deposits in 2015.

Overall, deposits grew by almost $400 million to just under $4 billion, with $83 million of this growth in term deposits and $94 million in the bank’s unique offset product.

Teachers Mutual also lifted its home loan book by 12.32 per cent to $3.8 billion.

Broker-generated loans contribute significantly to lender’s loan book performance. Over 1,000 brokers are now accredited to sell Teachers Mutual Bank home loans.

“We took a strategic decision to grow deposits, to help support the strong demand for, and growth in our loan book. We achieved this while maintaining good profitability,” Teachers Mutual Bank CEO Steve James said.

The group’s net profit after tax (NPAT) was $29.78 million, up 15.4 per cent from 2014.

Teachers Mutual Bank merged with the former Unicredit (now Unibank) in August of this year, and the bulk of the merger costs were factored in to the 2015 results.

The bank’s capital adequacy ratio remained strong at 15.74 per cent and well beyond prudential requirements, with capital reserves continuing their year-on-year increase to $391 million.

“We will also continue to work on expanding and diversifying our sources of liquidity and capital via the wholesale market in 2016,” Mr James said.

“Our inaugural medium-term note issuance (which includes non-fossil fuel investment criteria) to the wholesale funding sector this year was very successful, and will provide a stable source of funding for the next three years.”