Kiwibank says corporates are crying out for the Crown-owned bank to provide lending to promote competition.
However the bank's chief executive, Sam Knowles, says it has no place to expand into the corporate or commercial sphere at the moment.
Mr Knowles says Kiwibank is talking with its owner, the Government, about providing more capital, though he's mindful that the Crown is focused on reining in spending.
He says he's getting support from the corporate community to compete against the main, Australian-owned banks, as companies are being charged bigger margins than in the past.
A spokesperson for the Minister of Finance, Bill English, says negotiations are continuing with Kiwibank.
Kiwibank's profit shrank 9% to $23.5 million for the six months to December, as it faced intense competition from its bigger rivals for local savers' money.
