“We brought on a number of new-to-bank clients over the course of the year and our agri-lending portfolio grew by $331 million, up by around three per cent on the prior year,” he said.
“While this growth was lower than in previous years, this was achieved in a market environment which saw overall agricultural debt contract by 1.4 per cent.”
Mr Charteris said Rabobank New Zealand Group’s 2020 NPAT of $121.19 million was marginally back on the $129.7 million recorded in 2019 with this fall largely attributable to higher operating expenses.
“Operating costs increased in 2020, predominantly as a result of increased headcount – particularly within our Compliance, Regulatory and Country Banking teams,” he said.
The Group’s provisions decreased slightly in 2020, Mr Charteris said, with this a reflection of the strong performance of the bank’s clients across all sectors.
“Despite Covid-19 and other challenges, the vast majority of our clients across New Zealand’s key agricultural industries achieved a strong financial performance in 2020,” he said.
“This allowed many of our clients to pay down loan balances and also contributed to bank provisions falling from $23.5 million in 2019 to $21.47 million last year.”
“We brought on a number of new-to-bank clients over the course of the year and our agri-lending portfolio grew by $331 million, up by around three per cent on the prior year,” he said.
“While this growth was lower than in previous years, this was achieved in a market environment which saw overall agricultural debt contract by 1.4 per cent.”
Mr Charteris said Rabobank New Zealand Group’s 2020 NPAT of $121.19 million was marginally back on the $129.7 million recorded in 2019 with this fall largely attributable to higher operating expenses.
“Operating costs increased in 2020, predominantly as a result of increased headcount – particularly within our Compliance, Regulatory and Country Banking teams,” he said.
The Group’s provisions decreased slightly in 2020, Mr Charteris said, with this a reflection of the strong performance of the bank’s clients across all sectors.
“Despite Covid-19 and other challenges, the vast majority of our clients across New Zealand’s key agricultural industries achieved a strong financial performance in 2020,” he said.
“This allowed many of our clients to pay down loan balances and also contributed to bank provisions falling from $23.5 million in 2019 to $21.47 million last year.”
Rabobank New Zealand is a part of the global Rabobank Group, the world’s leading specialist in food and agribusiness banking. Rabobank has nearly 120 years’ experience providing customised banking and finance solutions to businesses involved in all aspects of food and agribusiness. Rabobank is structured as a cooperative and operates in 40 countries, servicing the needs of about 8.6 million clients worldwide through a network of close to 1000 offices and branches. Rabobank New Zealand is one of the country's leading agricultural lenders and a significant provider of business and corporate banking and financial services to the New Zealand food and agribusiness sector. The bank has 32 branches throughout New Zealand.
Media contacts:
David Johnston
Marketing & Media Relations Manager
Rabobank New Zealand
Phone: 04 819 2711 or 027 477 8153
Email: david.johnston@rabobank.com
Denise Shaw
Head of Media Relations
Rabobank Australia & New Zealand
Phone: +612 8115 2744 or +61 2 439 603 525
Email: denise.shaw@rabobank.com
