IMB Bank made a net profit of A$13.9 million for the six months to December - down 4.2 per cent from the previous corresponding period. In its financial report, the bank pointed out that the previous corresponding period had included a one-off gain from the sale of its head office building. It expects its full-year result to be in line with 2014/15 earnings.The net interest margin fell five basis points to 2.02 per cent. This largely reflects the adverse impact of interest rate cuts in February and May last year.The bank's loan portfolio grew by 1.9 per cent to $3.8 billion over the six months to December and deposits grew by 5.1 per cent to $4.2 billion.The bank had a very good experience with bad debts, reporting impairment recoveries of $62,000 for the half.In December IMB announced that it would merge with Sutherland Credit Union, which has around 10,000 members, A$217 million of assets, four branches and 35 employees.The merged group will have 190,000 members, $5.2 billion of assets, 48 branches and 530 employees.