Kiwibank wants to be a challenger and to embrace advisers

The bank had to dial back its growth after capital eligibility issues with the Reserve Bank and the write-off of a big technology project.

In the six-months to December 31 lifted first-half net profit 47.6% as it achieved more than twice the growth in deposits and lending in the latest six months as it managed in the whole of the previous full year.

Net profit rose from $42 million in the corresponding period last year to $62 million.

Kiwibank says its deposit book grew 9.2%, or by $1.2 billion, after growth of $200 million in the previous full year, while its mortgage book grew by 7.2%, or by $1 billion, double the previous full-year growth.

Kiwibank chief executive Steve urkovich said it’s “quite unusual for a business to have to really dial back and be pretty cautious about how much it was growing.”

Jurkovich says the banking world is going to be more open in the future and it has to be prepared for that and let customers choose how they interact with the bank.

“(When) we look around the market, there is a large number of customers who see working through an adviser as being a core way that they want their financial needs met.
“For us it's about acknowledging that there's a partner there that we wanna deal with.“

“(Advisers) they're a core part of our growth going forward. But, I think it's all about making sure that we're aligned and have some more cultures about how we want to help customers.

Jurovich says everyone is looking at the reviews published recently and working through the implications.

“We've got an awful lot of water to go under the bridge for all of us. But I think, I don't feel we won't be supporting mortgage brokers in the future.”

He says that for many customers advisers “do a great job and we should support that”.

Whether that means dealing with a whole lot more brokers, or just dealing with a smaller number of select advisers is something Kiwibank still has to work out.

“We will keep our options open there. But, certainly we've got partnerships that we really value now and open-mined about talking to other people.”