{"id":566933,"date":"2026-08-12T17:44:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T17:44:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/566933\/"},"modified":"2026-08-12T17:44:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T17:44:13","slug":"asb-profit-drops-to-1-4b-as-class-action-settlement-lifts-costs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/566933\/","title":{"rendered":"ASB profit drops to $1.4b as class action settlement lifts costs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"BXSdIJQrZoWgYbVqzX\" style=\"display:none\">She said the Middle East conflict and subsequent oil price shock had caused significant disruption, changing the inflation outlook and pushing interest rates up faster than expected.<\/p>\n<p class=\"BXSdIJQrZoWgYbVqzX\" style=\"display:none\">Nevertheless, Shortt said ASB had performed strongly across the board with home lending, business and rural lending. Customer deposits had increased.<\/p>\n<p class=\"BXSdIJQrZoWgYbVqzX\" style=\"display:none\">ASB\u2019s net interest income comprised interest income of $6.9b, from $7.7b the previous year. Interest expense was $3.7b, from $4.7b.<\/p>\n<p class=\"BXSdIJQrZoWgYbVqzX\" style=\"display:none\">This translated to total operating income of $3.7b, from $3.5b.<\/p>\n<p class=\"BXSdIJQrZoWgYbVqzX\" style=\"display:none\">Impairment losses on financial assets totalled $78m, from $60m a year ago.<\/p>\n<p class=\"BXSdIJQrZoWgYbVqzX\" style=\"display:none\">Operating expenses were up to $1.6b, from $1.4b, with the rise mostly due to ASB settling the class action related to the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act 2003.<\/p>\n<p class=\"BXSdIJQrZoWgYbVqzX\" style=\"display:none\">As regards the deposit-taker\u2019s balance sheet, total assets at June 30 were $143.6b, from $135.2b a year earlier.<\/p>\n<p class=\"BXSdIJQrZoWgYbVqzX\" style=\"display:none\">Total liabilities were $130.9b, from $123.7b. Total shareholders\u2019 equity was $12.6b, from $11.5b.<\/p>\n<p class=\"BXSdIJQrZoWgYbVqzX\" style=\"display:none\">Shortt continued that ASB expected economic momentum to return in coming months, but cautioned that \u201cuncertainty remains the new norm and we\u2019re cognisant that many New Zealanders will continue to face cost pressures\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"BXSdIJQrZoWgYbVqzX\" style=\"display:none\">The chief executive also said ASB was embarking on a programme of work to streamline its practices to create better outcomes for customers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"BXSdIJQrZoWgYbVqzX\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cThis complements work already underway to modernise technology and upgrade systems, simplify products and processes and invest further in financial crime capability, resulting in a simpler, more modern bank,\u201d she said in a results note.<\/p>\n<p>Stay ahead with the latest market moves, corporate updates, and economic insights by subscribing to our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nzherald.co.nz\/my-account\/profile\/newsletters\/?from=cmp\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.nzherald.co.nz\/my-account\/profile\/newsletters\/?from=cmp\">Business newsletter<\/a> \u2013 your essential weekly round-up of all the business news you need.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"She said the Middle East conflict and subsequent oil price shock had caused significant disruption, changing the inflation&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":566934,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[51176,104798,432,117217,534,4765,806,25286,138,12781,802,28796,10668,27125,8223,25619,2513,1132,111,139,69,17177,8240,5340,1436,8601,12177,61,85273,102,379],"class_list":["post-566933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-51176","tag-14b","tag-action","tag-aftertax","tag-amid","tag-annual","tag-as","tag-asb","tag-business","tag-class","tag-costs","tag-drops","tag-economic","tag-expenses","tag-forces","tag-lifts","tag-lower","tag-million","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-operating","tag-posted","tag-profit","tag-rise","tag-seeing","tag-settlement","tag-to","tag-uneven","tag-with","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=566933"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566933\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/566934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=566933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=566933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=566933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}