Regional lender Heritage Bank has reported a 34.3% increase in loan approvals from $1.78bn to $2.39bn across the 2016/17 financial year.
In the bank’s financial results released Monday (28 August), Heritage revealed that almost 50% of these approvals were coming through the broker channel.
Total consolidated assets also grew by 11.1% to reach $9.38bn over the financial year.
“We have been on a deliberate growth trajectory, as we look to build our loan book, retail deposits and assets. That growth will be critical for us in reshaping the business and investing more in our digital capabilities in coming years, both in the front-end and in the back office,” said CEO Peter Lock.
The bank will continue to build its presence outside of Queensland, he said.
“Heritage is a strong brand and our customer-owned status means we have a fantastic value proposition that resonates with banking consumers.”
The bank’s chairman Kerry Betros pointed out that Heritage’s level of mortgage loan arrears greater than 30 days was just 0.32% as of 30 June 2017.
“Compare that to the latest available Standard and Poor’s Performance Index (SPIN) industry figure of 1.16%, as at May 2017. We sit at one third of the industry average, which illustrates the continued strength of our loan book and the robustness of our credit practices,” he said.
Pre-tax profits grew 10.2% from $51.1m to $56.3m at Heritage while post-tax profits rose 9.6% from $36.1m to $39.6m. Accounting for one-off structural items such as the sale of Heritage’s financial planning business, the adjusted pre-tax profit sat at $52.8m – an increase of 3.3% from the previous year.
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