NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENT: Newcastle Permanent CEO Terry Millet, left, and chairman Michael Slater have reported a $40 million profit for last year.
Newcastle Permanent, Australia’s largest building society, released figures on Friday at the annual general meeting of a $40 million profit.
Chairman Michael Slater said the group had achieved a very strong and competitive performance last financial year.
“Another notable achievement this year has been the maintenance of our long term credit ratings, when all of the major banks were downgraded.” Mr Slater said.
The building society is rated as the largest customer owned banking institution in Australia with assets of more than $8 billion and a customer satisfaction rating of 92 per cent.
Chief executive officer Terry Millet said this year’s profit result was underpinned by net home lending approvals of $1.4 billion resulting in an 8 per cent increase in the home loan portfolio.
“We also maintained solid deposit growth despite significant competition from the major banks with 10 per cent growth in retail deposits which comprises nearly 80 per cent of our total funding requirements,” Mr Millet said.
Newcastle Permanent’s consistent financial performance has been mirrored by industry awards over recent years, this year being awarded Home Lender of the Year and Building Society of the Year for the third time in four years, as well as collecting several other awards.
The building society, which was created 109 years ago, does not have any shareholders, so profit is fully retained in the business, making the next few years look promising as well.
“This year Newcastle Permanent has further strengthened its market leading financial position and delivered a range of key initiatives to strengthen the business infrastructure and member value proposition for the future,” Mr Slater said.
