Total income was up 2.9 percent to $873.4 million as the bank continued to grow its earnings.
Cash earnings were 19 per cent higher at $260.7 million, while the bank’s six-month net interest margin sat at 14 basis points lower than this time last year at 2.09 per cent.
“This result marks the third consecutive half of positive jaws and our sixth consecutive half of above system growth in residential lending,” said Marnie Baker, managing director and CEO at Bendigo and Adelaide Bank.
“This strong result would not be possible without our strategy and our focus on execution. We are committed to removing complexity, keeping cost growth low and, above all, remaining a customer-centric organisation.”
Bendigo reported a 3.4 per cent lift in customer numbers to 2.12 million.
“Our customer base is growing because customers are attracted to our products, service levels and our purpose of feeding into the prosperity of our customers and communities, not off it.”
Over the last six months, the bank acquired financial technology company Ferocia and digital bank Up, accelerating its strategy.
“The pace of our transformation agenda continues to accelerate. We have disposed of non-core assets and business lines. We are moving applications to the cloud, which improves our efficiency and technology resilience. We are reducing ‘time to decision’ for our customers seeking a loan and will launch our fully digital home loan offering Up Home in the months ahead,” Ms Baker said.
“These milestones show that we are executing our strategy as we become a bigger, better and stronger bank. But the outlook remains challenging, and we need to intensify our efforts to meet these challenges. And we will”.
Bendigo has declared a dividend of 26.5 cents per share.
Maja Garaca Djurdjevic
Maja's career in journalism spans well over a decade across finance, business and politics. Now an experienced editor and reporter across all elements of the financial services sector, prior to joining Momentum Media, Maja reported for several established news outlets in Southeast Europe, scrutinising key processes in post-conflict societies.
