Rabobank NZ Group said it had strengthened its position in the rural banking market last year with a net profit of $209.06m - up 72.5 per cent on the previous year's - driven by the release of impairments and a lower cost of funds. 

The bank recorded net lending growth of $636m last year. Its rural lending portfolio - lending inside the farm gate - grew 2.7 per cent in a market where overall agri-debt contracted by 1.2 per cent. 

Rabobank NZ chief executive Todd Charteris said the healthy portfolio growth was in line with the bank's market growth strategy and demonstrated Rabobank's ongoing commitment to New Zealand's food and agribusiness sector. 

"Despite numerous challenges — including Covid-19 and new government regulations impacting the sector — New Zealand's agricultural sector again performed strongly in 2021 off the back of robust returns for the majority of the country's key agricultural commodities," he said. 

"We remain positive about the long-term prospects for the sector and our intention is to further expand our agri lending portfolio through new lending to farmers and other businesses across New Zealand's food and agribusiness supply chain." 

As in previous years, the profit would be reinvested locally to continue supporting New Zealand farmers and growers. 

In 2020, Rabobank booked a number of Covid-related impairments that contributed to its net profit dipping below the previous year's result. 

"The strong commodity pricing over the course of 2021 saw a number of our clients paying down debt, which improved the risk profile of our portfolio and enabled us to unwind loan impairments from the previous year," Charteris said. 

The bank's expenses grew to $172.30m, up by $11.4m on the previous year. 

Overall expenses rose by 7.0 per cent largely as a result of increased employee numbers –particularly in compliance and regulatory teams, he said. 

Rabobank also relocated from Wellington to Hamilton last year, and staff moved into the new office in early December.