Westpac has pulled back from the riskiest type of mortgage lending but it still managed to grow its mortgage book by more than $500 million in the three months to March.
Westpac's quarterly disclosure statement show net new mortgage lending of $571 million in the March quarter, with $523 million of that to people with deposits of more than 20%.
Mortgage lending to people with deposits of less than 10% shrank by $41 million.
Earlier this month the Reserve Bank expressed concerns about riskier mortgage lending - defined as to those with deposits of less than 20% - and required the banks to hold more capital against their riskier loans from the end of September. That will make such loans more expensive for the banks.
The numbers in the bank's quarterly disclosure statement suggest Westpac isn't among the banks currently troubling the Reserve Bank. Westpac has been working on reducing the riskiest type of lending for quite some time, and in the 12 months ended March, its lending to people with deposits of less than 10% shrank by $153 million.
However Westpac's mortgage lending to people with deposits between 10% and 20% is still growing. It rose by $48 million in the three months ended March and by $193 million in the 12 months ended March.
The safest part of Westpac's mortgage book, to people with deposits of more than 20%, grew by $1.02 billion in the same year.
