BNZ posts 4.3% half-year profit rise, claims crown as most popular consumer bank

Wednesday, 7 May 2025

BNZ said it has overtaken Kiwibank to have the highest net promoter score among the big five banks.

BNZ has reported a statutory net profit after tax of $795 million for the six months to the end of March, an increase of 4.3% on the same period last year.

BNZ chief executive Dan Huggins described the profit as “a solid result”.

BNZ made an after-tax profit of $762m in the six months to the end of March last year, which was lower than its after-tax profit of $805m in the previous year.

BNZ is one of three Australian-owned banks that report their half-year profits this week.

On Monday, Westpac said its half-year net profit after tax jumped 10% to $525 million from $477m in the same period last year. On Thursday, ANZ will announce its half-year profit.

BNZ added about 50,000 new customers in the six-month period, and grew its total lending by $4.3 billion or 4.1%, with home lending up 5.6% and business lending up 2%.

Kent Duston from the Banking Reform Coalition ripped in the big four banks’ excess profits at the Finance and Expenditure select committee on Wednesday.

BNZ also reported a significant increase in deposits, up $5.4b or 6.8%.

The banks are reporting their half-year results at a time when a rising proportion of people with home loans are struggling.

Credit reporting company Centrix said the borrowers on 24,000 home loan accounts were behind on their repayments at the end of June, and 480,000 people were behind on at least one credit account, including home loans.

“Overall, this is a solid result in the current economic environment,” Huggins said. “It supports our view that despite the current uncertainty driven by global trade and tariff tensions, New Zealand’s economic fundamentals have improved.

“The economy appears to be at a turning point, and while uncertainty remains, BNZ is well positioned to support its customers,” says Dan Huggins, BNZ CEO.

“Looking beyond the current global volatility, we have confidence in the New Zealand economy and have delivered an impairment write back to reflect this,” he said.

Huggins said BNZ was now the most popular of the big five banks as measured by net promoter score.

BNZ also rose to be the second most popular business bank among business owners as measured by net promoter score of the biggest five banks, but only one of the big banks had a positive score from its customers.