Investment in digital services pays off for bankmecu

Investment in digital services has helped bankmecu bounce back from a flat spot last year, when earnings and margins were under pressure.

The mutual bank reported an unaudited net profit of A$13.2 million for the six months to December - an increase of 8.9 per cent over the previous corresponding period.

Net interest revenue rose 12.3 per cent to $38.1 million and the net interest margin was up nine basis points to 2.28 per cent.

bankmecu's loan portfolio grew by 8.9 per cent to $2.5 billion and customer deposits grew by 9.5 per cent to $2.9 billion.

New loan settlements of $380.4 million during the half were 55.7 per cent higher than during the previous corresponding period.

The December half result is a strong turnaround for bankmecu, which reported a fall in profit and margins for the year to June last year.

Bankmecu managing director Damien Walsh said much of the growth in the latest half came through online channels.

Walsh said bankmecu would roll out further developments in digital banking services this year. He said digital services extended the bank's reach, simplified its processes and improved customer convenience.

He said new customer acquisition was at record levels.

At the same time, the bank has been able to reduce its cost-to-income ratio from 60.8 per cent in the six months to December 2013 to 60.6 per cent in the latest half.

The bank's capital adequacy ratio was down slightly, dropping from 19.78 per cent to 19.05 per cent.