Tight funding holds back AMP Bank

AMP reported yesterday that its banking division was unable to meet demand for home loans because of limited access to the securitisation market.

AMP Bank's home loan book grew by three per cent, to A$10.1 billion, last year, compared with system mortgage lending growth of eight per cent.

According to AMP's 2010 financial statement released yesterday: "There was strong consumer demand for AMP Bank home loans. The ability to meet this demand was constrained by ongoing limited access to securitisation markets."

AMP completed one issue of residential mortgage backed securities in January last year.

At December 31, the bank had A$7.5 billion of balance sheet funding and A$3.3 billion of off-balance sheet (securitisation) funding. The balance sheet funding is made up of 39 per cent retail deposits, 36 per cent wholesale deposits and 25 per cent superannuation deposits.

Retail deposits were up 23 per cent, to A$4.8 billion.

AMP Bank contributed operating earnings of A$42 million to the group, up 20 per cent on the $35 million reported in 2009.

The net interest margin was 1.38 per cent and the cost-to-income ratio was 41.1 per cent. The capital adequacy ratio was 11.3 per cent.

Total bad debt experienced over the past five years was $5.2 million. The bank has 100,000 customers.