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A continued focus on its mortgage offering has helped Bendigo sustain residential lending growth.
Non-major lender Bendigo Bank has reported an increase in post-tax net profit and residential mortgage growth for the March quarter.
In a trading update for the third quarter of the financial year ending 30 June 2025, the bank revealed total residential lending rose 9.4 per cent annualised on the prior quarter to $66.7 million.
However, despite increasing, Bendigo said that mortgage growth slowed in the last month of the quarter.
The increase follows strong growth in the first half of the year, with a 5.3 per cent increase in Bendigo’s residential loan book.
Net profits after tax grew 1.3 per cent year on year to $109.8 million, while total lending for Bendigo and Adelaide Bank was $16.5 million, up 11.5 per cent annualised on the prior quarter.
Cash earnings after tax dipped 7.8 per cent to $122.2 million compared to the first half of the year’s quarterly average.
Deposit growth held steady, with transaction accounts declining, while savings accounts (excluding offsets) grew 9.3 per cent annualised on the previous quarter.
Business lending growth was driven by portfolio funding, according to the non-major.
Commenting on the financial results, managing director and CEO Richard Fennell, said: “Cash earnings are lower this quarter, largely due to lower other income, while expenses were below the 1H25 quarterly average.
“Net interest income was slightly lower than the 1H25 quarterly average with net interest margin flat on the prior quarter. The balance sheet remains well positioned for the current economic outlook with more moderate levels of growth expected in the future.”
During the quarter, Bendigo migrated the Rural Bank system and retired the Rural Bank brand as part of the final phase of a six-year transformation program that will see the group have two primary consumer-facing brands, Bendigo Bank and Up, operating on a single, core banking system by the end of 2025.
Looking ahead, Fennell said: “We have continued to reduce the number of core banking systems from eight to two, further simplifying our business and technology platforms. We remain focused on sustainable growth and productivity improvements as we scale the business.”
Bendigo has recently been focusing on consolidating its brands and last year retired its Adelaide Bank brand for the broker channel, making Bendigo Bank the sole brand available to the third-party channel.
The group has also been investing heavily in the Bendigo mortgage offering in the past year, including by rolling out a new lending platform.
In Bendigo and Adelaide Bank’s most recent half-year results, the lender said that the third-party channel had helped deliver strong loan book growth.
[Related: Rural Bank customers transitioned over to Bendigo Bank]
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