Banking – ASB half year result: Supporting our customers for long-term prosperity

ASB has reported a cash net profit after tax (NPAT) of $719 million for the six months to 31 December 2025, up 1% on the prior comparative period.  Statutory NPAT was $765 million.

Since December 2024, home lending has grown 8%, while business and rural lending grew by 4%.  Total customer deposits increased by 5%.

Net customer margins remain flat, reflecting higher home lending margins and lower deposit margins.  Net Interest Margin (NIM) was up 6 basis points driven by higher earnings due to timing effects from interest rate hedges.

ASB KiwiSaver Scheme funds under management grew by more than $1.7 billion to more than $20.6 billion, thanks to continued strong returns to customers and top quartile performing funds.[1]  Collectively, ASB Group Investments manages more than $31 billion for investors across its range of five products.

Operating expenses were $839 million, an increase of 21% largely driven by the settlement of the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act 2003 class action proceedings, and investments in people, technology modernisation, digital experience and regulatory compliance.

Chief Executive Vittoria Shortt says “While the geopolitical outlook remains uncertain, we are seeing more confidence in the economy, supported by lower interest rates and good export earnings in key sectors.  This is evident in the uptick we’ve seen in business lending, with more lending growth across small business, commercial and rural this half than in the previous financial year.

“We remain well positioned to support our personal and business customers as they continue to tackle higher costs, navigate volatility or transition to growth.”

Investing in our customer experience

“We continue to make significant investments so customers choosing to bank with ASB have a simple and modern experience, where they feel informed and confident about making important financial decisions and safer knowing we actively seek to protect them from fraud and scams.

“Through our technology modernisation we are simplifying the way we work and the services we provide, removing overlap and complexity and offering products that might better suit our customers’ changing needs.

“We have a focus on service excellence and meeting customers’ expectations of faster and simpler processes, with quicker decisions on their home loan applications.  Building on our capability for single home loan applications to be started digitally through the ASB Mobile App, in November we extended this functionality to include joint home loan applications.  Customers can track the progress of their application and view indicative pricing in the ASB Mobile App, so they remain informed at every step.”

Further customer protections

“Fraud and scams remain an issue for New Zealand, and we continue to seek to make banking with us safer with enhanced customer protections against economic crime.

“We are now able to share data between banks related to digital fraud and money mule activity through the Fraud Reporting Exchange and New Zealand Data Exchange.  We remain available to assist customers 24/7 on our 0800 ASB FRAUD line.”

 Investing in New Zealand

“While we’ve seen business lending growth pick up, with increases across agricultural and property lending, for long-term prosperity New Zealand needs to become more productive.

“We are backing business customers to boost their productivity using artificial intelligence and technology in partnership with the New Zealand Product Accelerator and universities.  Following a successful pilot, the programme is being scaled up this year to match up to 100 ASB business customers with AI, business analytics and data science masters’ students to work on their business.

“We are continuing to show up for rural New Zealand with offerings to help with transformation and succession through our Every Hectare Matters programme, and reduce costs with ASB’s Smart Solar 0% lending to assist the switch to renewable, resilient energy.  We are supporting the future of the dairy industry and empowering the next generation of farmers towards the goal of farm ownership with financial support and expertise in partnership with the New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards and Fonterra.

“These initiatives are highly valued by the rural sector, as a result we have grown our rural lending more than any other bank in the 12-months to September 2025.[2]

“Long-term prosperity also requires that we have enough housing to support our growing population and easier access to more affordable housing solutions.  We have doubled our commitment to $1 billion to accelerate the development of social and affordable housing and the long-term delivery of thousands of new homes.  To date we have committed $517 million for social and affordable housing, and this half we committed nearly $50 million to a Māori social housing provider in Tāmaki Makaurau to deliver more than 150 homes.”

Saving for the future

“Regular savings provide a pathway to long-term financial wellbeing and broader economic resilience for Aotearoa.

“We have put a lot of effort into the ASB Investment Funds and the ASB KiwiSaver Scheme so we can offer competitive investment options for customers.  We have multiple top performing KiwiSaver funds with low fees, and this is a powerful combination that can make a big difference for our nearly half a million ASB KiwiSaver Scheme members who stand to benefit when purchasing a first home and/or in retirement.

“We remain focused on how we can help tamariki build financial literacy and early savings habits.  In November, we reintroduced our Kashin moneybox to celebrate ASB’s 150 years of supporting Kiwi kids to get one step ahead with money.  We’ve seen a notable increase in the opening of new Headstart accounts, helping children to start their savings journey.  We continue to support the delivery of financial education nationwide with nearly 45,000 students participating this half in our GetWise and Tikitiki o Pūtea programmes in schools.”

^[1] ASB KiwiSaver Scheme Conservative, Moderate, Balanced and Growth funds are in the top quartile for 12-month performance to 31 December 2025, Morningstar KiwiSaver Survey (Dec 2025).

² RBNZ quarterly release, 12-months to September 2025.

1. Cash profit reflects the Banking Group’s underlying operating results and excludes items that introduce volatility and/or one-off distortions which are not considered representative of ongoing financial performance. These items are calculated consistently year on year and do not discriminate between positive and negative adjustments.
2. Hedging and IFRS volatility includes unrealised fair value gains or losses on economic hedges that do not qualify for hedge accounting and unrealised fair value gains or losses on the ineffective portion of hedges that do qualify for hedge accounting under NZ IFRS. These fair value gains or losses are excluded from Cash profit/(loss) since the asymmetric recognition of the gains or losses does not affect the performance of the Banking Group over the life of the hedge.
3. This represents the recognition of a notional cost of capital from the ultimate parent and other allocated costs which are not included in Statutory profit. Comparative information (including the tax impact) has been restated to conform to presentation in the current period. As a result, the return on average total equity and operating expenses as a percentage of total operating income have been restated accordingly.
4. The results of certain business units within the CBA Group are excluded from Cash profit for management reporting purposes but included in Statutory profit.