Defence Bank increased its total home lending book by14.5 per cent, helping the member-owned bank achieve another double-digit increase in annual net profit. The A$10.0 million reported was a 14.5 per cent improvement on the $8.7 million profit reported twelve months ago.This result is a continuation of Defence Bank's two-part strategy, based on meeting the growing demand for services - particularly home loans - among its core membership of Defence personnel, whilst aiming to attract a wider customer base of savers to meet its funding targets. The bank's managing director and chief executive officer Jon Linehan points to an increasing number of branches being set up in areas outside army bases to allow older savers to deposit funds or invest in superannuation products."Our client base is unlike any other bank in Australia and we've worked hard to respond to the challenges of our mostly young, highly mobile members by investing in technology and maintaining our branch footprint round key ADF locations," said Linehan. Over the last two years Defence Bank has invested heavily in up-skilling staff and modernising branches in Canberra, Townsville, Sale, Melbourne and Nowra, South Coast, NSW. Defence Bank also operates a call centre that allows its members to access bank staff via a video call app, developed by NCR, based on a system running in the US.Linehan said the video technology is enabling Defence Bank to stay ahead of the bigger banks, break down the barrier of geographic dislocation and provide superior service to members."Military personnel are regularly transferred and it can be difficult finding an ATM, let alone developing a relationship with your local bank manager.""What video is doing is not only providing access to advice, it's establishing greater trust with the customer compared to a traditional phone call," Linehan said.He said programs like this have contributed to Defence Bank's strong financial performance, and a Net Promoter Score - as produced by Brisbane based consulting firm Engaged Marketing - of positive 24, which is in stark contrast to the Australian retail banking average of minus 9.84.