31 January 2003 12:00am

A return in the mid teens may be as good as it gets for regional bank shareholders.

The bank's CFO, John Patton, told CorporateFile that a return on equity of 14.5 per cent (up from 13.0 per cent in June) was reasonable, given Adelaide is essentially a mortgage bank with a low risk profile.

Adelaide's return on assets reached 0.41 per cent in December, up from 0.39 per cent in June. Best practice in retail banks with dominant market positions is in excess of one per cent.