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ISCOVER
Staff Reporter
Australia’s mutuals and credit unions continue to go from strength to strength, with the sector growing its home lending by 5.2 per cent.
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According to the annual KPMG survey, the customer-owned banks have grown assets by an average of 4.5 per cent – higher than the major banks at 3.9 per cent.
The survey also found credit unions and mutuals have grown their deposits by 6.3 per cent and housing lending by 5.2 per cent.
Meanwhile, bad debts are extremely low.
“There’s no doubt it’s a tight marketplace, but the survey points out our strong capitalisation and prudent management and the high quality service that will continue to drive growth in 2013,” said Louise Petschler, chief executive of Abacus, the mutuals and credit unions' peak industry body.
“While it’s a tougher low growth environment that places pressure on profits, the fundamentals remain strong.
“Assets, home loans, deposits and customer numbers are all up and as the survey spells out clearly, our 'customer first' model has us perfectly placed to meet any future global economic uncertainty.”
Abacus also acknowledged the strong institutional feedback contained in the survey about issues such as the need for a financial services inquiry, barriers to competition, the implementation of Basel III regulatory reform and the impact of digital technology on financial services.
