The mutual banking group’s home loan book rose 7 per cent over the financial year 2025, with a record 12,122 home buyers supported.
Newcastle Greater Mutual Group Ltd (NGM Group), encompassing Greater Bank and Newcastle Permanent (which merged in March 2023), has revealed its financial results for the financial year ending 30 June 2025 (FY25), outlining strong growth across lending and deposits.
The bank finished the year with a record 635,000 customers and grew its mortgage book by $1.2 billion over the year.
According to the banking group, home loan growth across the two brands resulted in NGM Group growing at 7 per cent – faster than any other mutual bank in Australia (according to APRA banking statistics at June 2025).
As such, its home loan portfolio grew to just over $18 billion. Total assets held by the bank grew 9 per cent to $23.1 billion (and $2.0 billion net assets).
A record 12,122 home buyers were supported by the customer-owned banking brands in 2025, 1,688 of whom were first home buyers.
All of its home loans were funded by deposits, which grew 7 per cent (or $1.3 billion, believed to be the largest growth in dollar terms of any customer-owned bank in Australia) to $18.9 billion in FY25.
Almost 26,000 new deposit or savings accounts were opened over the year.
Personal lending also ticked up at NGM Group, with its personal loan portfolio increasing by 12.4 per cent to $123.4 million.
NGM Group managing director and group CEO, Bernadette Inglis, commented: “More people are choosing us for their biggest financial decisions, and this is something we are very proud of.
“Whether it’s through highly competitive lending products or deposit accounts with no monthly fees, as a customer-owned bank, our focus is on delivering value and helping Australians achieve financial wellbeing at every stage of life.”
Noting the fact the group is funding its mortgages entirely through deposits, she added: “This demonstrates the strength of our strategy and provides the flexibility to continue to meet demand for home loans without overreliance on wholesale markets.
“As a result, we can continue to support housing finance with competitive rates, helping more Australians enter the property market at a time when affordability is a key challenge.”
Digital plays a core priority
While both lending brands rely heavily on brokers for their mortgage customers, the group is increasingly growing through digital home loans, with Newcastle Permanent’s digital offering contributing heavily to the lending growth.
Greater Bank rolled out its own digital home loan in June (which can reportedly complete the application process in 15 minutes and see approvals granted in hours), which the group said would likely contribute further to mortgage growth in this financial year.
Its annual report reads: “Following the success of Newcastle Permanent’s digital home loan, in late June we marked a major milestone in our multi-brand journey by introducing Greater Bank’s own online home loan product. This was backed by enhancements to ID verification and digital document signing capabilities introduced in 2024, and now sees both brands offer a seamless, end-to-end digital home loan experience.
“This achievement reflects a core strategic priority – to enable customers through technology – which also saw us introduce PayTo in online banking, giving customers real-time payment verification and greater control, reducing the risk of unauthorised transactions.”
It spent more than $40 million in innovation and technology investment to enhance the organisation and the customer experience, with 15 systems consolidated and almost 100 digital releases over the year.
The group MD and CEO Inglis flagged the record investment in cloud technologies, data centres, and digital innovation and added: “We’re transforming the way we serve our customers by bringing innovative solutions to market faster, while enhancing the reliability and security of our core operations.
“We’re building on a strong foundation to make banking faster, safer and more seamless for our customers, however they prefer to bank with us – in person, over the phone or online.
“We’re committed to ensuring our customers can access leading products and services with confidence, backed by the values of customer-owned banking that they know and trust.”
NGM Group is one of several lenders focusing their investment in digital home loans, with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) pushing its digital home loan (including by recently launching an offer to give borrowers up to 300,000 Qantas points).
Part of the drive to digital mortgages has been to improve net interest margin, while other lenders are keen to improve speed to market.
However, while digital home loans are growing in popularity, research shows that consumer appetite for artificial intelligence in mortgage lending is very low. Just 6 per cent of consumers feel comfortable relying on an AI assistant to research mortgage options, even if it could compare, apply for, and manage their loan.
[Related: Banks plot broker bypass to reclaim market share: S&P]
