After reining in home lending activity in May due to the COVID-19 pandemic, BNK Banking Corporation has reported a moderate uptick in loan settlements in the September quarter.
In a ASX filing on Monday, the country’s smallest listed bank disclosed that it made A$6 million worth of loans to retail borrowers in the September quarter – an 84 per cent slide on the volume it reported for the same period last year.
BNK’s share price has rallied strongly since the end of August when it reported a 47 per cent leap in full year profit mainly due to accelerating growth in its Finsure mortgage aggregation business.
The Finsure business, which provides services to a network of 1,816 mortgage brokers, is continuing to outperform the group’s banking unit after reporting a 33 per cent increase in loan settlements in the September quarter.
Finsure achieved record settlements in the quarter after completing more than $4.6 billion worth of home loans via the network.
In the corresponding period last year Finsure settled $3.47 billion of mortgages.
The business a lodged a record number of mortgage applications with lenders in September, an indication that recent momentum is likely to carry into the current quarter.
“With record low interest rates, Finsure expects continued buoyant demand for residential mortgage finance,” the group said in the ASX filing.
BNK’s share price closed up 2 cents or 3.2 per cent to 64 cents.