It’s Up, up and away for Bendigo Bank’s | Australian Markets

Bank of Bendigo’s youth-focused digital bank, Up, has recorded its best ever 12 months, brightening the regional lender’s prospects after a retreat in annual revenue.

Up’s buyer numbers leapt 29 per cent to 1.2 million within the 2025 financial 12 months, the lion’s share off referrals, fuelling an 11 per cent leap throughout the Bendigo group to 2.9 million prospects.

Deposits at Up, based in 2018, leapt 34 per cent to $2.8 billion within the 12 months to June, whereas its mortgage lending practically tripled to $1.7b.

Bendigo shares had been 3.6 per cent larger at $13.46 as at 12.40pm.

Up’s robust efficiency has reassured Bendigo management who see the model as a key half of the bank’s strategy to draw youthful prospects and retain them by means of their banking lives as they migrate by means of deposits into loans and different more profitable merchandise.

“Most of Up’s customers join when they’re in their late teens or early 20s,” Bendigo chief govt Richard Fennell stated.

“Most people at that stage don’t have a lot of savings, so the amount of deposits they have are relatively small.

“As those customers age … they save more, putting money away for a home or other reasons, a car or a holiday, and we start to see those deposits increase.”

Bendigo ended the 12 months within the crimson, posting a $97.1m loss after flagging hefty goodwill writedowns final week.

A greater measure of its underlying efficiency, money revenue, was 8.4 per cent decrease at $514.6m, supporting an unchanged remaining dividend of 33¢ a 12 months.

Monday’s announcement closed off what Bendigo acknowledged was a powerful 12 months, together with a shock first-half revenue drop that despatched its shares plunging as a lot as 18 per cent. That 23 per cent revenue stoop was partly blamed on decrease margins ensuing from larger funding prices to assist Bendigo’s unexpectedly robust lending growth.

“The bank has delivered more moderate growth and stable margins in the second half,” Mr Fennell stated on Monday.

“This followed a first half that saw significant demand for our residential lending products exceed our capacity to fund through lower-cost deposits.”

Bendigo has additionally confronted latest criticism over its choice to close 10 branches in regional Victoria, Queensland and Tasmania, with the Financial Sector Union describing the closures as “a slap in the face” for the affected communities.

Bendigo has branches in WA, together with 24 Community Bank retailers in regional or distant areas largely exited by the large banks.

Under the Bendigo group bank model established 30 years in the past, native branches are established and run by means of public unlisted corporations set up by locals, with Bendigo offering the technology and banking assist.