Non-major bank,
ME Bank has delivered a 28% rise in statutory profit for the 2013/14 financial year, driven by the growth in home loan settlements.
ME Bank has reported an underlying net profit after tax of $47.4 million for the financial year, spurred by the boom in home loan settlements – which were up 19% to $3.8 billion for the year. By volume, the bank settled over 15,500 new home loans in FY14, an increase of 24% on the previous financial year.
ME Bank CEO, Jamie McPhee, said the Bank had achieved a home loan settlement record in June 2014 with $409 million in settlements, the first time the bank has exceeded $400 million in home loan settlements in a single month.
Broker sales for the year were up 143% on last year, accounting for $1.2 billion mortgage sales. This was the first time the broker channel passed $1 billion in settlements.
This growth has been achieved following the establishment of the broker offering in November 2011. The bank now has partnerships with 18 aggregator groups and nearly 5,000 accredited brokers. Broker numbers have climbed 66% from last year and a whopping 426% from two years ago, when they had only 916 accredited broker partners.
In the bank’s annual review, growing its relationship with the broker channel was identified as one of the bank’s top strategic priorities. McPhee is confident that growth through this channel will continue strongly as new technology will enable improved service to be delivered.
“Our nearly completed technology transformation project will also be a key enabler for growth. In an industry increasingly reliant on technology, the completion of the project in early 2015 means ME Bank will have a highly capable technical platform with which to compete against industry leaders in terms of the range and attractiveness of products and services,” he said.
