Westpac New Zealand has increased its half-year profit, boosted by lower charges for bad debts.
The Australian-owned bank chalked up cash earnings of $370 million in the six months to the end of March, up 7% compared with the same period a year ago.
Chief executive Peter Clare says competition in the mortgage market - of which the bank claims about 20% - has been intense.
"We've been - in the first half - though a quite extraordinary period of competition, primarily driven by one of our major competitors collapsing two brands into one.
"I would expect that the competition that continues in the balance of this year and beyond is less focussed on price."
The bank says margins fell because more people moved from floating to fixed-rate mortgages, which are not so lucrative for the bank.
However, it benefitted from a drop in bad debt provisions, which fell by a third.
Lending rose a modest 3%, led by gains in agriculture loans. Deposits grew by 14%.
Westpac's Australian parent increased its net profit by 11% to $A3.3 billion.
