At the annual general meeting for IMB Bank earlier this week, the bank's retiring chairman, Michael Cole, took the opportunity to pitch for "a merger with another mutual ADI."Cole took members through a few key numbers, noting that loans had increased by "a very solid 67 per cent", and net interest margin had been reclaimed from its lowest point of 1.60 per cent in 2007 to sit at 2.04 per cent. This has been achieved, in part, by moving from a broker driven business to "a predominantly internal branch employee or mobile lender approach."The IMB business model has been significantly de-risked over the period, Cole added. The capital adequacy ratio has lifted 48 per cent to 15.5 per cent, although the bank's net after tax profit to net assets ratio (ROE) lifted from 9.6 per cent to 11.1 per cent. "In my view, IMB has appeal as a merger partner as it has consistently demonstrated the efficiency and viability of its business model," he said.