This year's Queensland floods are mostly hindering Suncorp's banking business by robbing it of opportunities for new business rather than by causing borrowers to miss payments. As a result, the bank has elected to release A$20 million of a $25 million provision against losses from the floods raised earlier in the year.In its quarterly update on assets and asset quality, for the September 2011 quarter, Suncorp said that arrears in flood-affected areas were no higher than those in other areas. It also said it had retained some of the provision to cover a number of agribusiness exposures. The update did not cover earnings.The bank put impaired assets in its "core bank" at $148 million at the end of the quarter, up $2 million on June. Home loans 90 days or more in arrears fell to $230 million from $299 million, as borrowers initially affected by the floods caught up with payments.Growth in assets in the core bank was slight over the quarter, with home loans rising only 0.4 per cent, according to the bank. Over six months, growth was 1.6 per cent, less than half the rate of growth for all banks.The bank aims to lift its growth rate back to system, and has a home loan growth target of between 1.0 and 1.3 times system.In the "non core" bank, which is principally property development loans, impaired loans fell $50 million over the quarter to $2.2 billion.The overall level of loans in the non-core bank fell around $1 billion to $6.8 billion at the end of the quarter. Suncorp continues to describe the run-off as "ahead of initial expectations".On the liability side, the deposit-to-loan ratio eased to 69.5 per cent at the end of September, from 70 per cent at the end of June, though this is still near the top end of the target range of 60 to 70 per cent.David Foster, chief executive of Suncorp Bank, said the bank aimed to keep this ratio near 70 per cent, which, on the bank's analysis, is the second highest in the market, at least for listed banks.Speaking about other funding issues, Foster said Suncorp would look at covered bonds and look into its options, as the major banks develop this market further.