Westpac NZ added $1.44b of mortgages in the six months ended March

Mortgage brokers accounted for 53% of Westpac's mortgage portfolio at March 31, up from 51.9% at Sept 30 last year.

The bank doesn't disclose broker share of new mortgages, but it's clearly growing much faster than through Westpac's own channels.

“Despite the recession, we're backing customers' growth aspirations,” said chief executive Catherine McGrath.

“We've supported first-home buyers to purchase 3,101 homes in the last six months, a 14% increase on the prior corresponding period, and we have a wide range of options in the market to help them on that journey,” McGrath said.

“We've lifted home lending by 3% and we've lifted business lending by 1% as we continue to support businesses and the economy to grow. We're heading into the second half of the year with good momentum and are well-positioned to support further growth as the economy recovers.”

Westpac NZ reported a 20.3% jump in first-half net profit to $562 million compared with $467 million in the previous first half with charges against profit for bad debts plummeting to $23 million from $154 million.

Deposits fell 1% to $78.8 billion at March 31 from $79.8 billion at both Sept 30 and March 31 last year.

Westpac said its net interest margin fell 2 basis points to 2.09% from a year earlier. That compares with its Australian parent's 1.89% NIM, down from 1.96% in the previous first half.

“Alternative” numbers

The bank chose to highlight in its media release that its “pre-provision profit” fell 8% and said net profit was $477 million.

However, it released its disclosure statement at the same time which showed the $562 million number – the statutory number in the disclosure statement is prescribed by accounting rules but Westpac's other figures are not.

The mortgage numbers are from the disclosure statement – Westpac provided another measure showing its mortgage portfolio at March 31 was $67.4 billion, up from 65.8 billion at Sept 30 and $65.2 billion at March 31 last year.

McGrath said 'she is optimistic that the economy will start improving by the end of the year but that many households and businesses are struggling with high interest rates and costs.

“We have been focused on early and proactive outreach, contacting more than 51,000 home loan customers who were due to refix at higher interest rates in the past six months, as well as more than 1,800 customers we identified as at most risk of financial stress,” she said.

“Overall, we have fewer customers suffering hardship than we'd expected and most remain well-placed to manage ongoing cost pressures.”

Within the mortgage portfolio, fixed-rate mortgages accounted for 90% at March 31, down from 91% six months earlier, while interest-only loans accounted for 16% of the portfolio, down from 16.5% six months earlier.
Mortgages that were 90 days past due rose to 0.47% of the portfolio at March 31, up from 0.33% at Sept 30.