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End of year financial results from MyState show the regional bank witnessed annualised loan book growth of almost 9% and a 4.6% rise in net profit after tax, reaching $31.5m.
The growth was driven in part by the lender’s focus on improving services for customers and increasing efficiency, according to managing director and CEO Melos Sulicich.
“This was a strong result with increased profit, supported by productivity gains and cost management,” Sulicich said.
“Our loan book increased at around twice system growth during the second half, closing the year at $4.5 billion. Increasingly, we are benefiting from more targeted marketing, supported by our innovation in technology which enables us to increase scale and compete more effectively. Over the last two years our loan book has grown at an annualised rate of nearly 9% while maintaining very high quality lending,” he added.
The past financial year saw the bank launching a range of online savings and transactions accounts including an Everyday and eSaver Account, leading to “significant growth” in bank accounts opened online. In particular, MyState saw customer deposits reach $3.3bn.
The firm was also among the first group of banks to introduce full New Payments Platform (NPP) capability to customers.
“Revenue increased and underlying costs were steady, delivering positive jaws with the cost to income ratio improving by 190 basis points. Improving customer services was also recognised by an increase in the group’s net promoter score to +27 at the end of the financial year,” Sulicich added.
The CEO expects the banking business to record above-system loan book growth as the group continues to focus on increasing scale and becoming a more sophisticated digital bank. “We have a clear organic growth strategy based on innovation and a customer-centric business culture,” he added.
