TSB gears up for competition - CEO

Financial results for the TSB Bank showed 10% growth in profit to $66.5 million.

This was announced by TSB Chief Executive Kevin Murphy, who said the results reveal that the bank is still delivering "excellent" profits despite a challenging economic environment.

"We came through the financial crisis better than most financial institutions, because we are 100% New Zealand funded, and international banks are now having to fund more of their funds domestically, so that creates additional competition," he said.

Murphy emphasized that the bank, which has been around for 162 years, is "definitely up for the challenge".

He said TSB will stay competitive through its dedication to the "customer is king" mantra and the fact the bank is 100% Kiwi-owned.

"There's a real move back to New Zealand ownership, other things that attract customers to us are our low fees policy, we have a no fees transaction policy, so that attracts customers, and they're enthused with that," he said.

Murphy said the "human touch is always important".

"It can be hard but you've always got to keep working at it, and we instill that in our staff from day one, and we keep reinforcing it, because you've got to keep reminding people that the customer is king."

Numbers of customers depositing funds increased by $273 million, or 6.15% to a record $4.7 billion.
TSB Bank has also matched its bigger banking rivals by cutting its two-year fixed mortgage rate to 5.5% per annum.

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