ASB Bank in New Zealand has - so far - side-stepped any detriment to its profits from the early stages of the recession, the slump in property prices, a subdued construction industry, the widespread failure of finance companies and the freeze on or outright loss of a chunk of household savings invested in finance companies.Against this backdrop ASB reported an increase of 11 per cent in underlying profit to NZ$532 million. On a statutory basis net profit fell three per cent to NZ$515 million.The impairment charge to the P&L more than doubled to NZ$40 million. Assets increased 12 per cent over the year to NZ$59 billion.