Newcastle Greater Mutual Group chief exxecutive Bernadette Inglis says the company's first annual financial results show the merger of the Hunter's two major banks has been a success.
NGM recorded an annual net profit of $72.9 million in the 2022-23 financial year after the $20 billion merger of Newcastle Permanent and the Greater Bank in March.
The combined annual profit compared with individual net results of $32 million for Newcastle Permanent and $6.1 million for Greater Bank in 2021-22.
Ms Inglis said the new profit figures were "outstanding" and a "standout result" for the customer-owned mutual banking sector.
"We believe that's because we are living up to our promise," she said.
"We brought these two very strong organisations together and we are utilising the strength of both organisations to build NGM."
The merger, approved by members late last year, retained the Newcastle Permanent and Greater Bank brands.
The merged group has more than 600,000 customers in total, many of them in the Hunter, a home-loan portfolio of $15.3 billion and customer deposits of $16.5 billion.
NGM said on Thursday that about 90 per cent of its mortgage customers were ahead on their home loans and the group's 90-day loan delinquency rate of 0.09 per cent was among the best in the industry.
Newcastle Permanent is ranked first in Australia on Forbes media group's list of the world's best banks and the Greater is ranked sixth.
The group's annual report, published on Friday, shows the company has total assets of $20.1 billion and net assets of $1.7 billion, "making NGM Group one of the best-capitalised authorised deposit-taking institutions in Australia".
"In addition to the impact of the merger, net interest income increased due to higher home loan balances and increases in the RBA cash rate," the report says.
"This favourability was partially offset by higher operating costs driven by rising inflation, increases in the provision for expected credit losses and one-off costs from the merger and integration."
Ms Inglis said NGM had become a "financial powerhouse in Newcastle and the Hunter" and a "sustainable alternative to the big banks", which had been part of the rationale for merging.
"We grew our new customers by 15 per cent, which is a great indicator we're on the right track."
