ASB Bank's mortgage lending to people with small deposits fell dramatically in the December quarter even as its overall mortgage book grew strongly, according to its latest statement.
The bank's December quarter disclosure statement shows its mortgage book stood at $41.23 billion at 31 December, up $362 million in the three months.
Its lending to people with less than a 20 percent deposit fell by $213 million during that time, while lending to those with more than a 20 percent deposit jumped by $575 million in the quarter.
It's a dramatic turnaround for ASB, which was the most affected by the new Reserve Bank rules which, from 1 October, have restricted the amount of any bank's lending to people with less than a 20 percent deposit to no more than 10 percent of new total mortgage lending.
In the September quarter, just under 40 percent of ASB's net new mortgage lending was to people with less than a 20 percent deposit and, in the June quarter, 73 percent of its new lending was to those with small deposits.
One of the reasons ASB has been able to curtail such lending so dramatically is that in September it withdrew all its pre-approvals for mortgages to people with less than a 20 percent deposit from 4 October.
As at 31 December, ASB was committed to lending a further $649 million to people with small deposits, down from $868 million of such commitments three months earlier.
