NZ banks eke out another quarter of sub-1% lending growth, KPMG says

NZ banks eke out another quarter of sub-1% lending growth, KPMG says
Jonathan Underhill
By Jonathan Underhill March 27 (BusinessDesk) - New Zealand banks managed a combined 0.9 percent increase in lending in the fourth quarter, a period when operating expenses and impaired asset charge jumped more steeply. The nine biggest registered banks had $401.65 billion of lending, up from $398.05 billion three months earlier, according to KPMG's quarterly financial institutions' performance survey (FIPS). Growth in loans has slowed from a 1.5 percent rate in the fourth quarter of 2016. Operating expenses rose 4.5 percent in the lat...