Wollongong-based building society IMB Banking & Financial Services recorded an eight per cent increase in net profit to $21.6 million for the 2008 financial year. The bank outlined highlights in a media release and in an interview, but is yet to publish detailed financials.Total assets fell by around $100 million over the year, with loan approvals down nine per cent to $871 million. Deposits bucked the trend, increasing eight per cent to $3 billion."In total assets we have about $4.5 billion of which the mortgage book is just over $3.6 billion," said Robert Ryan, chief executive at IMB. In regards to mortgage arrears, Ryan adds no particular suburbs or postcodes are increasing more rapidly than others, even though the building society does lend in south-western Sydney."We are not getting any stress there in terms of the book. We are still seeing very low levels of arrears, far less than half the national average. In 90-day arrears we are talking ten or twelve loans out of a book of 18,000 to 19,000 loans."Before the global liquidity crises took hold, IMB had been a heavy user of residential securitisation, with Ryan saying around a third of the mortgage book is currently securitised."And that's dropping down now, and we don't foresee that we need securitisation in the near future." Ryan defines the near future as the next twelve months. Like many of its peers, IMB stopped using the broker channel for mortgages earlier in the year, but Ryan adds there are some exceptions."We are still doing commercial lending through brokers. We are also allowing those brokers who have commercial loans with a borrower to do a residential loan with us, and we are still allowing top ups."Ryan said historically almost half of residential lending came through brokers. IMB is looking to make up the shortfall through the establishment of some mobile lenders and new branch openings in Cronulla and Sylvania, with a loan centre at Narellan.A fully franked dividend of 23.5 cents was declared for the year, which includes a special 0.5 cent dividend, representing a 2.2 per cent increase on the previous year.