BNK appoints new CFO

Mr Kinsella joins BNK Banking Corporation (BNK) with over 25 years of experience in the banking sector, having held senior roles with major bank Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), Bankwest and ABN Amro.

Most recently, Mr Kinsella was the chief financial officer (CFO) for Avenue Bank, where he held the role from May 2021 to June 2023.

Prior to this, he was the chief financial officer of CBA’s institutional banking and markets division for seven years, where he was in charge of providing financial support to its institutional lending and transaction banking and financial markets as well as domestic and international equities units.

He also had a five-year tenure as CFO and head of finance for the major bank’s business and private banking division, managing CBA’s acquisition and integration of Bankwest.

Before his stint with CBA, Mr Kinsella spent 10 years with ABN Amro, having held the roles of CFO Australia and New Zealand, regional CFO, and global head of the bank’s product control and business unit finance divisions.

He will commence with his role at BNK on 1 November 2023, with BNK interim CFO Judith Newman resuming her position as BNK’s financial controller.

BNK chief executive Allan Savins welcomed Mr Kinsella to the BNK team, stating: “Steve’s extensive banking experience will help strengthen our business performance across the organisation while we pursue our strategic expansion into higher margin lending.”

BNK’s pursuit of higher-margin lending

BNK confirmed in August 2023 that it will continue to prioritise its strategic shift towards the commercial and specialist lending sectors after it exceeded its 15 per cent target of high-margin lending in the financial year 2023.

Its financial results for the year ended 30 June 2023 revealed that BNK exceeded the higher-margin lending growth targets since it broke into the commercial space at the beginning of FY23 and acquired a $150 million portfolio of specialist loans from Goldman Sachs.

BNK had set itself a $100 million higher-margin settlement target for FY23, but revealed that its higher-margin lending portfolio grew to $195 million, representing more than 15 per cent of its $1.3 billion loan book (5 per cent commercial and 13 per cent specialist).

It has now set itself a goal of 20 per cent of total FY24 settlements in this category and aims to build its book to $3 billion over the next three to five years.

Overall, its loan book grew 37 per cent over the year (from $984 million in FY22), driven by both organic and inorganic (acquisition) factors, while its deposit book grew to $1.2 billion (from $965 million).

Mortgage and finance brokers continue to write 100 per cent of the group’s loans, with the group having increased its number of accredited brokers by 18 per cent to 10,145.

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