Business Breakdown: Bank profits healthy despite competition on lending

Mon, 22 Jun 2015

By Fiona Rotherham June 23 (BusinessDesk) - New Zealand’s five major banks have continued to show strong profits and lending growth in the first quarter of 2015 although stiff competition has led to a drop in lending margins. Analysis by PwC shows net profit before tax increased by $94 million or 5.9 percent to $1.69 billion for the first quarter compared to $1.59 billion during the fourth quarter of 2014 for ANZ, ASB, BNZ, Westpac, and Kiwibank. The main cause of the profit boost was an increase in other operating income of $75 millio...

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