Teachers Mutual Bank took advantage of strong deposit inflow in the 2020/21 financial year to pursue more aggressive home loan growth, resulting in 20.1 per cent growth in its mortgage book.
Deposit grew by A$1.2 billion to $7.9 billion and home loan balances grew to $7.7 billion.
Teachers is in the fortunate position where most of its members – teachers, healthcare workers and emergency services workers – have remained fully employed throughout the pandemic.
It had only 900 customers on repayment deferrals last year and just 80 this year.
Teachers chief executive Steve James said many of them increased their savings or took advantage of low rates to look for a home.
“We were in the market with good fixed rates,” he said.
James said the 20 per cent growth in the mortgage book was probably a one-off, taking advantages of a particular set of conditions. The previous year its book grew by only 2 per cent.
“We are not planning for this to be a year-on-year event,” he said.
Teachers reported a net profit of $28.1 million for the year to June, a 9.5 per cent increase over the previous year. Revenue was flat at $177.3 million.
Teachers has played an active role in the consolidation of the mutual sector in recent years and this year it secured approval from APRA and members to merge with Pulse Credit Union.
The merger, which James hopes will be completed next month, will add 6000 members to the group. Total membership was 221,000 at June 30.
It has also developed new brands, launching Health Professionals Bank in 2019 and a digital-only brand, Hiver, this year.
James said that as new products and services are developed for Hiver they will be moved into the rest of the group.