Jurkovich says 11% home loan share and safe lending back Kiwibank's disruptor claim
Kiwibank chief executive Steve Jurkovich (pictured) says the Crown-owned bank is doing more to shake up New Zealand's big four banks than Macquarie Bank is doing to Australia's major lenders, arguing Kiwibank's growth trajectory tells a stronger story than the headlines suggest.
Speaking after Kiwibank released its annual results last week, Jurkovich was asked how the bank's official "maverick disrupter" role — a title the Commerce Commission assigned it in 2024 — is progressing two years on, interest.co.nz reported.
"I think when you take 11% [home loan market] share, you grow business banking by 11% [too], you know, we are growing faster and doing a better job of disrupting the four big competitors than Macquarie is in Australia percentage-wise," Jurkovich said. "And they get some pretty good coverage about being the disruptor."
The comparison is a pointed one. Macquarie's aggressive push into Australian home lending has drawn sustained coverage, with one economist noting the bank has expanded its mortgage market share from 0.19% in 2010 to 7.33% as of June this year, and some commentators suggesting it could eventually overtake one of Australia's own big four.
Lending growth builds on a pattern
Kiwibank has made similar claims before. Two years ago, the bank posted a record $202 million after-tax profit alongside 9.3% growth in its lending book to $32.4 billion, with home lending growing 2.7 times faster than the market and business lending more than three times faster. That expansion followed a $225 million capital injection from sole shareholder Kiwi Group Capital in 2023, with the results announced against the backdrop of a Government push for a more disruptive Kiwibank to challenge ANZ, ASB, BNZ, and Westpac NZ, interest.co.nz reported.
Jurkovich said the bank's more recent growth has come without compromising loan quality, pointing to arrears data as evidence. Kiwibank reported 0.27% of its gross loans and advances were at least 90 days past due at June 30, with a further 0.18% impaired.
"I think if you look at our performance on bad debts, we are doing so safely," he said.
Advisers central to Kiwibank's disruptor strategy
For mortgage advisers, Kiwibank's growth is increasingly playing out through the broker channel rather than around it.
"We're in front of 1,550-odd [mortgage] advisors and growing our everyday activity with them the whole time," Jurkovich said, adding the bank is "doing as good a job as I can find around the world" without relying on the splash of a flashy market entrant.
"People always look at disruption like, why aren't you bigger than them?" he said. "I would say, for instance, a disruption and a disruptor is [also] letting people get what they think they're gonna get on their online savings accounts."
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