Maitland-based The Mutual Bank has reported ‘a profit after income tax of A$3.5 million, up 3.9 per cent on the previous year.

Loans funded increased by 28 per cent to $220 million bringing the total loans and advances to $680 million, an increase of 10.8 per cent.

Total assets rose 7.4 per cent to $902 million, putting the bank around the midpoint in size of the 62 remaining mutuals.

Highlights of the year were noted as moving into a new head office at East Maitland, upgrading the core banking system, introducing Apple Pay and Google Pay, and placing “second in the sector for bad debts”.

The bank reported a return on assets of 0.41 per cent, and saw its net interest margin increase from 2 per cent to 2.22 per cent. But operating costs, particularly employee benefits expenses due to 20 new staff, and depreciation and amortisation arising from the new head office, chewed up most of the $42.3 million increase in net interest income.

The bank drew $27.2 million from the Reserve Banks Term Funding Facility to meet the demand for loans, and for regulatory compliance purposes.