BNK total lending portfolio up 10%

BNK Banking Corporation (BNK) has reported that its total lending portfolio rose 10 per cent on 1H22, hitting a total of $2.8 billion. Along with this, BNK’s lending book growth totals $1.2 billion, up 58 per cent from 1H22.

Additionally, BNK’s deposit book growth was up 43 per cent, reaching $1.2 billion, up from the $852 million recorded in 1H22, which according to the digital bank demonstrated its ability to “fund self-fund growth and reducing risk in the loan book”.

BNK’s small and medium enterprise (SME) strategy with commercial settlements contributed to approximately 10 per cent of all total settlements in the first half of the financial year.

BNK announced this shift in its strategic direction to pivot the lender’s trajectory into SME lending as a part of its next stage of expansion last year, accrediting the shift due to there being more than 2.4 million SMEs nationwide, employing almost 5 million Australians.

Non-bank lender Better Choice (a subsidiary of BNK) launched an enhanced range of commercial loan products in order to boost lending to the SME sector.

The digital bank also reported that the average loan size increased from $340,000 to $357,000 during this period.

Furthermore, BNK reported that the majority of its loans were on variable rates, with fixed rate loans making up 29 per cent of the loan book in 1H23, having reduced its fixed rate lending to 11 per cent of new loans during this period.

Commenting on the results, BNK chief executive Allan Savins said: “BNK continued to deliver strong growth during the first half of 2023, with significant increases in the BNK lending book and total lending portfolio, despite tough competition in the mortgage and deposit market.

“Enabled by the proceeds from the sale of Finsure, we made solid progress on our move into the small and medium enterprise lending market with commercial settlements contributing approximately 10 per cent of total settlements in 1H23.

“This was made possible due to our existing broker network as well as the additional 804 brokers accredited during 1H23.”

On the outlook for 2023, Mr Savins stated the lender will continue to work on expanding its suite of SME banking products to ensure they are tailored to its target market.

[RELATED: BNK portfolio reaches $2.8bn]