Kiwibank signs up 100,000th customer

Kiwibank signs up 100,000th customer

30/01/2003

Kiwibank has signed up its 100,000th customer, less than a year after first opening for business. The milestone customers are a Waiuku, South Auckland, couple Richard and Shea Malloy, who drew down a home loan on Friday 17January 2003.

The Chairman of Kiwibank, Rt Hon Jim Bolger and Chief Executive Sam Knowles will visit the couple at their home this morning to congratulate them on helping the bank reach this key customer target and to present them with a Mitre 10 voucher to assist with developing their new home. Mr and Mrs Malloy both work in the Waiuku area and have four sons.

Kiwibank first opened for business in February last year, although the formal nationwide rollout of branch openings began on 23 March. Kiwibank now has 279 branches operating in PostShops and franchises, making it by far the most extensive network of any bank operating in this country.

Since the end of May last year the bank has been signing up an average of 500 customers each business day. Support has continued at this level this year. The bank has been closely monitoring the signing up of customers as it approached the 100,000 milestone and calculated the target was reached on 17 January. This was the day the Malloys drew down their home loan.

Mr Bolger said he was delighted that Kiwibank had been able to help a young New Zealand family achieve their dream of owning their own home. He said he was pleased the bank had received such overwhelming support from the public. "We were always confident the proposal to have a national bank owned by New Zealanders would be well received, but the very strong support has exceeded our best hopes."

"I firmly believe the Kiwibank foundations of New Zealand ownership and a return to having banking services in suburbs and towns across the country will ensure the bank's success. Kiwibank also has had a major impact on the New Zealand banking industry with significantly reduced fees and very competitive home loan rates."

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