Illawarra's banking champion IMB Bank is scouting for more merger partners, with the A$6 billion bank likely to consolidate on its improved reach in Sydney.Noel Cornish, chair of IMB, spelled out the search for one or more ADIs to draw under its wing, following its July 2016 merger with Sutherland Credit Union."In addition to our organic growth strategies, conducting mergers with other mutuals that are committed to providing superior service and member benefits remains a strategic priority for IMB," Cornish wrote in a foreword to IMB's annual report for the year to June 2017.That recent merger is bedded down, although at a cost to the bank.Net profit fell $2.1 million, or seven per cent, to $27.5 billion over the year to June 2017.Expenses jumped 12 per cent, though "when excluding the effects of the SCU cost base [at] merger and the integration costs unable to be fair value accounted, underlying expenses have increased by approximately six per cent," Robert Ryan, the chief executive, explained in the annual report.Higher costs are part of the plan, described by Ryan as being due to "organic growth via new branches and our digital banking initiatives. IMB also increased its investment in training for our staff and an increase in our marketing spend has supported the strong growth in both loans and deposits."IMB's assets increased by nine per cent to $5.7 billion, two thirds of the growth organic and the rest via SCU.Loan approval levels for the year were $1.2 billion, 16 per cent more than in 2016.Retail deposits lifted 11 per cent during the year, roughly twice system growth.A final fully franked dividend of nine cents per share is the same as the interim dividend and the full dividend for the year of 18 cents is two cents less than that outlined as the target in late 2016.This final dividend "is in line with previously stated guidelines [set out by the board], and represents a payout ratio of approximately 79 per cent, based on shareholders' interest in contributed funding."IMB undertook an off-market share buyback in December 2016 of 3.5 million shares. This was the fourth buyback in recent years, and takes the total shares bought back to 11.5 million, or 29 per cent of the shares on issue prior to the commencement of the buyback program, the annual report stated.The board added that it "remains committed to the buyback of all shares on issue, with the amount of capital attributed to each future buyback to be determined with regard to the strategic and operational requirements of the business."Shares in an IMB-run market in its own shares ended yesterday at $5.05, in line with the price over recent weeks, but four per cent more than the share price in late July, when IMB shares took off on a run.