BANK of New Zealand, the local unit of National Australia Bank, lifted first-half cash earnings 0.5 per cent as revenue gains from housing and business lending were offset by a bigger charge on bad debts.
Cash earnings from the New Zealand banking operations, which strip out wholesale operations, rose to $387 million in the six months ended March 31 from $385m in the same period a year earlier.
BNZ interest income gained 4.1 per cent to $778m, while the charge on impaired assets grew to $73m from $30m a year earlier.
The increase in revenue came from growth in the bank's lending volumes, while the impairment charge was bigger due to "higher specific provision charges on business exposures," according to the NAB commentary on the NZ unit released on Thursday.
The local lender lifted gross loans 3.3 per cent to $59.4 billion as at March 31 from a year earlier, and customer deposits climbed almost 11 per cent to $37.1 billion.
The New Zealand unit lifted its market share of agribusiness lending and retail deposits, while losing ground in home loans and cards from a year ago.
"Actively growing out deposit base, diversifying our presence in wholesale funding markets and holding prudent levels of liquidity represent a significant contribution to maintaining BNZ's rock-solid balance sheet," chief executive Andrew Thorburn said.
"BNZ's ongoing support of New Zealand business is driving increased lending growth to business, particularly in the country's important agriculture sector."
The Australian parent, NAB, boosted cash earnings 3.1 per cent to $A2.92b ($NZ3.52b), of which BNZ contributed about 11 per cent.
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