Superbank, a joint venture between Australia's St George Bank and Foodstuffs, which operates the Pak' N Save, New World, Four Square and Write Price supermarkets, lost $2.16 million in the March quarter compared with its $2.94 million loss in the March quarter last year. The latest loss was still higher than the $1.59 loss it reported in the December quarter.
Superbank increased its mortgage book to $505,426 in the latest quarter from $473,231 at the end of December, lifting its market share from 0.41% to 0.43%. Superbank began selling mortgages in the second half of 2004.
ANZ's net profit rose 4.2% to $N46 million in the March quarter and its share of the mortgage market rose to 34.8% from 34.75% in December (that's based on all the bank's actual figures rather than using Reserve Bank figures as a proxy for the market). The bank has mostly been shedding market share since it took over National Bank in December 2003 when the two banks claimed 37.07% of the mortgage market.
BNZ's net profit fell to $131 million in the March quarter compared with $NZ134 million in the same quarter last year. It's share of the mortgage market eased to 16.35% at the end of March from 16.4% at the end of December. BNZ set off an intense price war in the mortgage market from late 2004 with its "Unbeatable" campaign. It's market share peaked at 16.52% in June 2005 compared with 16.11% in June 2004.
