Hello, everyone, and welcome to BSP Financial Group's results briefing for the year ended 31 December 2023. My name is Paul Black, and I'm the Head of Investor Relations and Strategy at BSP. In this briefing, you'll hear presentations from our Group CEO, Mark Robinson, with a business update and an overview of our results. Our Group CFO, Ronesh Dayal, will discuss our financial results in more detail, and then Mark will provide an outlook and summary. The presentation will be followed by the opportunity for questions. But before I hand over to Mark, and for those joining one of our investor presentations for the first time, here is a short outline of our history. Our bank was established in 1957 in Port Moresby as a branch of NAB, that was subsequently renamed to BSP upon its sale.
In 2001, BSP purchased the state-owned Papua New Guinea Banking Corporation to create the largest bank in PNG, and listed on the PNGX a few years later in 2003. Other acquisitions followed, including CBA's Colonial Bank in Fiji and a number of Westpac businesses across the South Pacific. We listed on the ASX in 2021 and trade under the ticker BFL, with a market capitalization in the order of AUD 3 billion. I will now hand over to Mark.
Thank you, Paul. Good morning, everyone attending via our live conference today. My name is Mark Robinson, and I'm the Group CEO of BSP. From my first day assuming my role 12 months ago, my priorities have been directed in three areas. First, understanding the markets in which we operate and how we can best provide an exceptional experience for our customers. Second, investing for our future. Investments in technology and talent will lead this effort. Third, ensuring that BSP continues to robustly support the economic growth of the South Pacific, as we have for 67 years since our founding in 1957. Some examples of actions we've taken to improve the experience for our customers include restructuring our retail banking operations to better align with the customer segment needs.
We've established a team focused on creating a seamless omni-channel experience led by our digital channels, which is convenient and safe in providing 24/7 banking. We're investing in technology and specialized talent to develop data-driven insights to support our marketing, risk decisioning, and operational efficiency. Last year, we rolled out our new core banking system in PNG, which is now stabilized after some initial challenges. Our goal in 2024 is to optimize the performance of the system to create operational efficiencies and an enhanced customer experience. We continue to partner with leading global firms to ensure we execute our digital roadmap and process simplification agenda to create a seamless experience for our customers and value for our shareholders. As many of you know, BSP has always had a very strong corporate banking focus.
As of the end of last year, we had PGK 9.9 billion, or AUD 3.7 billion, of total corporate loans, which support our business customers' working capital and capital expenditure needs. One recent example in Fiji this year was when we approved a loan for FJD 230 million to one customer, which will allow it to plan and undertake a four-year capital expenditure program, including developing new power generation capabilities using renewable sources such as biomass, solar, and water. BSP also supports the region in many ways, which you'll see as we go through this presentation.
But I do want to highlight here that as a financial institution with the largest presence in the South Pacific, we have paid PGK 3.5 billion, or AUD 1.4 billion, to our shareholders in the last five years as dividends, as well as paying PGK 3.1 billion, or AUD 1.2 billion, in company taxes that help support our communities. In the next slide, I will touch upon BSP's strength and resilience, while Ronesh will have more to say about dividends and taxes in his presentation shortly. I want to provide some context to our 2023 results by looking at our track record since 2014.
Firstly, you'll notice we're significantly larger now than we were in 2014, with gross loans growing by 134% over that period, in line with our deposit growth over the same period. BSP has also grown significantly stronger, holding more than twice as much Tier One capital and total assets. This strength is a key source of competitive advantage for BSP, giving us the financial capacity and confidence to invest for our customers and our shareholders. It also gives us the ability to cushion any unforeseen economic challenges, which inevitably emerge from time to time in markets around the world, including the markets in which we operate.
While our profit has grown from PGK 507 million - PGK 890 million since 2014, we now hold substantially more capital against these assets than we did a decade ago. While this makes us stronger, you will see that our return on equity has fallen from 30% to the low 20% range last year. But as you can see, our returns remain significantly higher than any of our regional peers. Overall, while we're proud of our long-term track record, there is always more that we can do. But before I touch on our operating performance and strategy, I'll give you a high-level overview of our results for 2023.
Turning now to last year, and noting the relatively immaterial impact of IFRS 17 on our balances for 2022, I would like to highlight a pleasing volume growth in all core lines of our business, which has translated to top-line revenue growth across the group of a healthy 8%. Meanwhile, operating expenses were up 10%, driven mainly by inflation, as well as our increased technology spend to support delivery of our strategic initiatives. Taken together, this means we have delivered a still healthy 8% increase in operating profit. However, owing to an increase in loan impairments in 2023, following the reversal of COVID-19 provisions in the prior two years, and of course, to a significantly higher company tax rate, on which Ronesh will have more to say in a few minutes, our statutory profit fell 18% in fiscal year 2022.
You will have also seen in Monday's market announcement that we made the settlement of the judicial review of the additional company tax that has been reached with the Commissioner General of the Internal Revenue Commission of Papua New Guinea. Consequently, PGK 95 million should be refunded to BSP in the near future, and we thank our relevant superannuation fund shareholders for their unwavering support of BSP in this regard. This slide shows that not only do we have the strength and size to cushion the impacts of challenges we face from time to time, as I noted on slide six, but our position also allows us to be a strong advocate and partner for important economic developments in the South Pacific for the benefit of our community, as well as our shareholders.
If our region prospers, then so do all of our stakeholders, including regional governments, customers, and our shareholders. I'm happy to note on this slide that our monthly digital and EFTPOS terminal tracked transactions grew by double-digit growth rates in 2023. This is a result of our efforts to move more customers and transactions to convenient digital channels. We are continuing to invest in our existing digital offerings, as well as new offerings that provide our customers with market-leading banking services comparable to markets around the world. I'm often asked about our strategy, which informs much of the activity currently taking place at BSP. So before I hand over to Ronesh, I would like to take a couple of slides to reflect on our strategy at the bank.
In our home market of PNG, I want to highlight what is referred to locally as mega projects. These projects, with total investment of just over PGK 100 billion, or AUD 42 billion, will have a considerable impact on PNG over the next 10 years. The overall economic growth will provide many opportunities for BSP to support our customers' financial needs. Across the Pacific, the economic rebound of economies post-COVID is also providing considerable demand for BSP's lending and other products. The Pacific markets, in fact, now contribute approximately 30% of BSP's financial performance. Given this attractive backdrop for the region and our strong performance, we have the opportunity to build a world-class bank. This is why we've embarked on a program to invest in key enablers of our strategy, including, most obviously, with new investments to deepen our customer relationships right across the group.
We aim to offer better services to our customers more often. We're investing heavily in technology and using data more effectively to better understand customer needs, risk, and efficiency opportunities. Pleasingly, some of the actions we've taken are already bearing fruit. For example, in our ability to deliver pre-approved digital loans. We have also sharply reduced branch waiting times in the second half of last year and set up dedicated business banking centers in key urban locations to support our customers. We have also partnered with the PNG government to leverage its business loan programs, which have been made available on favorable terms to small businesses in the region to help stimulate economic growth. One of our key strategic priorities also involves a substantial step-up in activity to support the development of our people at BSP, including by the launch of our new BSP Academy.
Building a world-class bank right here in our region is something that excites me and the rest of the team at BSP. On that note, I will hand over to Ronesh to run through our results for 2023.
Thank you, Mark, and, welcome to everyone on the webcast. I will cover our financial results for 2023 and provide some details about how we have further strengthened our balance sheet to help our customers and lay the financial platform to support a world-class bank. My first key call-out is to note that while BSP's statutory net profit after tax declined by 18% in financial year 2023, the underlying NPAT we delivered remained relatively stable, easing just 4% after excluding all material changes to our tax obligations that have been legislated in the last couple of years. The comparative 2022 results included two large impacts on the tax line. Firstly, we had the one-off PGK 190 million additional company tax impact on the P&L.
Secondly, following the announcement of an increase in company tax rate from 30% - 45% back in December 2022, the deferred tax asset balance had to be revalued, which had the impact of increasing deferred tax assets by PGK 135 million, with a contra credit to income tax expense. The net one-off impact for 2022 was therefore an increase in tax expense of PGK 55 million. For 2023, the increase in company tax rate for all PNG commercial banks from 30% - 45%, effective January 1, 2023, had an impact of PGK 209 million on BSP's underlying results.
Excluding the above large impacts, net profit after tax at a normalized tax rate of 30% would see the 2023 results at PGK 1.1 billion, just 4% below the normalized 2022 comparative. This is a great achievement for the group, notwithstanding a tough 2023 financial year. Looking to our dividend, the board has declared a final dividend of PGK 1.06, bringing the full year dividend to PGK 1.43. Earnings per share was at PGK 1.91 for 2023. Both represent a reduction of 18% against 2022, in line with the reduction in statutory profits. The next slide looks at our underlying net profit after tax and the main drivers of changes to this in 2023.
I would like to draw your attention to the dark green bars on the slide, slide 14, which are normalized for the tax rate changes referred to in the previous slide. It is pleasing to note that underlying operating results, that is income over expenses, saw a positive increase of PGK 122 million over the year. I will cover the drivers of income and expenses in more detail in the next three slides. There was also a sharp lift in impairment expenses in 2023 compared to the previous year, and I will share more details surrounding this increase on slide 18. Total income for the group grew by 8.4% in 2023 to PGK 2.8 billion or AUD 1.2 billion, with a strong contribution from our Pacific markets.
Net interest income growth was primarily driven by a healthy 12% increase in lending volumes. Non-interest income also contributed positively, driven by a 26% growth in FX income due to higher inflows. Electronic banking income grew by 22%, a reflection of the double-digit growth in the use of our digital channels. With respect to our net interest margin, the first point to note is that our NIM is wider than what you'd see for banks in more developed markets. This is mainly on account of the mix of our assets, where only around 15% of our loan book is invested in lower-risk residential mortgages. The 31 basis points erosion of our NIM in 2023 was largely driven by a reduced yield on our investment securities, driven by strong market liquidity.
Investment security yields have fallen since 2022 and 2023, so most of the investment portfolio being repriced at these lower rates. We managed our lending and funding mix across the business to ensure other margin erosion across our book was limited to a modest 7 basis points. Our operating expenses lifted by 9.9% for the year, which was not totally unanticipated, given the increased investment in technology, including higher amortization costs following capitalization of our new core banking system in April 2023. The completion of this significant multi-year project will enable BSP to change the investment mix in future towards modernization initiatives, as Mark has alluded to in his slides, to deliver better outcomes for our customers and promote operational efficiency.
Higher card costs were also incurred owing to higher volumes, particularly in our wider Pacific markets, as international visitor numbers rebounded with corresponding increase in card income. Wages growth was also a key driver of expense increase as we continued to invest heavily in staff across all areas of the business. Despite this expenditure growth, our cost-to-income ratio was relatively steady at 38.5% for the year. Now, turning to the quality of the loan book, there was a relatively large PGK 187 million movement in impairment expenses from 2022 to 2023. Dissecting our impairment expenses in more detail, we note the following: firstly, 2021 and 2022 contained large impairment releases post COVID-19.
2023 did not have the benefit of any carryforward provisions available for release, given that impacted customers had bounced back post border opening by 2022, and provisions were aligned to underlying customer risk grades. Financial year 2023, on the other hand, included a single specific provision of PGK 28 million for an exposure which is fully secured, and the bank is comfortable about its ultimate recovery in full. Financial year 2023 also contains a PGK 40 million uplift in impairments connected with our unsecured personal loan portfolio, which is partially attributable to a larger asset book, but does reflect some level of deterioration in credit quality in a challenging economic environment. As would be expected, a number of initiatives have been implemented to ensure credit quality remains within risk appetites. Delinquency rates and gross impaired assets also lifted sharply in 2023.
However, it's worth noting that if we exclude the single large secured loan, which is transferred to non-accrual status or Stage Three, as it is referred to under IFRS 9, normalized delinquency rate reduces to 3.2% in line with prior year trends. While required Stage Three provisions increased as a result of higher delinquency rates, we did see an improvement in Stage Two loans being upgraded to Stage One over the year. Combined with good quality increase in lending volumes, overall increase to loans ratio, provisions to loans ratio remained steady at 4.3%. You will notice that the provision to loans ratio is well above most Australian banks, once again, reflecting the skew of our asset mix, where, as I mentioned previously, only around 15% of our loan book is invested in residential mortgages.
This is reflective of the size of the residential property market in Papua New Guinea. We remained well provisioned, with total provisions at PGK 0.7 billion, fully aligned to expected credit loss calculations required by accounting and regulatory standards. Turning now to our balance sheet. Total assets grew by 9.5% to PGK 37 billion, or AUD 14.5 billion, with a strong 12% growth in lending. This was funded by a corresponding 11% increase in deposits, which is predominantly domestic funding. A feature of our balance sheet remains the high levels of deposit funding, with a corresponding low loan-to-deposit ratio of 56%, reflecting our capacity to increase lending.
While there is a large percentage of demand deposits and a duration mismatch when contractual maturity is considered, behavioral maturity assessments undertaken for liquidity management purposes illustrate very low volatility, with a large part held as core deposits. Pleasingly, all our key loan product categories experienced strong growth in 2023. Our business loan segments represents about 66% of our loan portfolio. Retail mortgages make up around 15% and provide significant opportunity for growth. Unsecured personal loans constitute 13% of the loan book, and saw a strong growth of 23% during the year. Following completion of the audited 2023 accounts, the board has declared a final dividend of PGK 1.06 for 2023, bringing our full year dividend to PGK 1.43 or AUD 0.56 per share in Australian dollars.
The 18% reduction is mainly on account of the increase in the company tax rate in 2023, as detailed in the earlier slides. We continue to engage in constructive discussions with the government, with a view to moving the company tax rate back to levels comparable with regional peer banks as we go about building a world-class bank. We are proud of our long dividend history and have maintained our historical policy of paying out approximately 75% of our statutory profit as dividends. I'd also like to note that based on the BSP share price at the end of 2023, the dividend yield remained in double digits, and with the recent strength of the share price, it still remains in the high single-digit numbers.
Before I hand back to Mark, I want to bring my material together to show on one slide how strong our business settings remain. I want to draw attention to our return on equity and assets, which remained at robust levels in 2023, despite the company tax rate change as well as the lift in impairments. Our cost-to-income ratio remains stable, but we do expect it to lift in coming years as we continue to invest in the business to enhance the experience of our customers and our already strong competitive position. Meanwhile, our capital measures are strong, with the capital adequacy comfortably above the 20% mark. Overall, while 2023 was in many ways a challenging year for BSP, we remain satisfied with the key financial settings of the business.
However, we know there's always more we can do, and on that note, I'm happy to hand back to Mark for his closing remarks. Thank you.
Thank you, Ronesh. While I agree there's always more that we can do, I want to pause for a moment and touch on some of the macroeconomic features of our region. In summary, the fundamentals of the economies in South Pacific are improving following the COVID impact, which was still obviously obvious in 2022, a view reinforced by the Asian Development Bank on this slide, where you can see that while the growth rates for our regional economies can be volatile, they have been strong in 2023, especially in Fiji, and are expected to remain so for this year right across the region.
Business investment in PNG is also increasing, and it has been reported that PNG is entering an investment super cycle with mega projects of investment of over PGK 100 billion or AUD 42 billion, either just being renewed or in the pipeline. For example, in the important Porgera Gold Mine, an hour and a half-hour flight from Port Moresby, which resumed production December 2023. For context, and to give you an indication of the scale of the opportunities on our doorstep, I note that the headline value of these mega projects combined is actually greater than PNG's reported GDP for 2021 of around PGK 100 billion. In summary, we remain the market leader in our region by a comfortable margin. We are larger and stronger than we've ever been, and more customers than ever are choosing to bank with us.
This has allowed us to deliver attractive returns again in 2023 and pay over PGK 668 million to our shareholders. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our staff at BSP for their commitment and hard work in 2023, and to thank all of our shareholders for their support as we build a world-class bank. On that note, I'm happy to hand back to Paul and look forward to your questions.
Thank you, Mark. We have a number of questions that have come through. The first one is from Nambawan Super, David Kitchnoge, and his first question is: Can the company assure shareholders that its banking license and correspondent banking arrangements are unaffected by the ongoing matter concerning Puma Energy?
Thank you, Paul, and thank you, David, for your question. What I can assure you of is that we take very seriously regulatory relationships both in PNG and across the region. We invest a considerable amount of senior management focus on maintaining a very positive working relationship with our regulators. In addition, we invest a considerable amount in maintaining a very positive relationship with our correspondent banks. I can assure you both regulators and correspondent banks are remain very engaged with us, and our relationships with all of them are very positive and there's no issues with any single customer at all, which leads me to have any concern about the nature of those relationships.
... Charlie Green, what are the KPIs you pay attention to when you think about a world-class bank?
Firstly, thank you, Charlie. I think the most important KPI is obviously what do our customers think of us? For the first time, we're going to be investing quite a bit of effort in coming up with measurable goals that will indicate the degree of customer satisfaction for transactions right across the bank and attempt, obviously, to measure every engagement that customers have with us. A key point that is important to understand in our markets is that I also have a personal feeling that many people have had to spend too much time with their bank, their basic banking needs. So we're also measuring very closely the length of queues and how we can provide a degree of service that's engaging and efficient.
Right across the board, we look, of course, for our customers to be interacting with us in a way that works best for them. So everything really, Charlie, boils down to: how do our customers engage with us? What do our customers think about us? And we're not going to be ever probably be satisfied in that regard. But we'll continue to have KPIs for all of our staff that link back to the customer experience.
... Cini from QValue has a question regarding, "Concerning the recent violent outbreaks at Porgera, law and order appears to be an ongoing issue in PNG. How does this, how does this affect the bank's earnings over the year?
Just with respect to Porgera, what I understand is the ramp-up there is proceeding broadly on plan. Many of our big projects in PNG, as well as I understand around the world, if there are issues, sometimes it's more about obtaining appropriate skilled labor from both inside the country as well as outside. But everything we read and understand is that that project is proceeding on plan. And obviously, as these projects develop, hire more people, that is a very, has a very positive impact on, on communities as well.
Another question from Dan Cini, from QValue: "I noticed that Porgera started up again in December, but these major incidents slowed. Will these major incidents slow the project?
As I said, Paul, my understanding is the project's absolutely, absolutely on track.
Thank you. A final question from Dan Cini: "BSP margins are very strong when compared to Australian banks. Surely, this may invite competition over time. How would BSP respond to this?
Well, I must say that we welcome competition wherever it occurs in any market that we're operating in. We feel that it benefits our customers to have a choice. And obviously, we will make sure that we remain as competitive as we possibly can be. So I don't think it changes our behavior at all. We'll continue to do the best possible job we can do. We are aware of competitors that find some of the markets which we operate attractive, and if they choose to enter, that's absolutely fine, and we would welcome that.
I'll now hand over to the operator to see if we... of the conference call, to see if we have any questions coming through.
Thank you. As a reminder, to ask a question, please press star one one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star one one again. As a reminder, to ask a question, please press star one one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star one one again. At this time, I'm showing that there are no questions over the phone lines.
Well, we've got a few that have come through via the webcast. If we could bring those back up, please. What is the possibility-- This is from Unit Trust of Samoa, Aisha Ramoni. "What is the possibility of the PGK 95 million reimbursement from the additional company tax settlement being paid out to shareholders as a special dividend or form part of the interim dividend?
Thank you, Paul. Thank you, Aisha. We've been engaged with the commissioner to reach this settlement, and to be candid, have not had any chance to really give much thought to what would be appropriate. And in fact, we haven't received these funds yet. So once we receive them, obviously, we'll be in a better position to consider what if there is any special treatment, let's say. But we do hope that sometime in the next month or so, the actual refund or settlement amount would be received.
A question from Moses David, Australian National University: "Does the FX income also include the Bank of PNG intervention flows? If we adjust this and strip out BPNG interventions, how much was FX income from strictly market flows? How will the exit of Puma impact your intervention?
... The intervention by the BPNG is very much part of the market behavior or market structure here in Papua New Guinea. I must be very clear that when we show FX income, obviously, we're the beneficiaries of customers doing business with us all across the Pacific. We don't break it down by one particular geography. In each geography in which we operate, there's different, obviously, different types of central bank intervention, different types of currency regime. It's really not. I'm not even sure it's possible to sort of strip out one source of the flows. In terms of, you mentioned one customer's name there.
We have customers who come in, new customers coming, and sometimes customers, their FX patterns change, significantly. So the movement of any one customer is, is not one that, is really gonna have a material impact on the overall, FX, earnings of the bank.
Just... I've got one question from Kina Securities, from Caro: The company's focus on improving the operational and customer experience in coming years, what will the impact the dividend payout in the coming years of that program of improving customer experience?
We've not had any. As you know, dividend policy is something that rests with the board. To date, there's not been any discussion or discussion of a discussion about any changes there. So, nothing to report, and that's certainly something that we're not, you know, don't vision a change. But obviously, that's something that continues to remain under the guidance of the board.
Thanks, Mark. Another question from Mark Tomlins, Trium Capital. There's been significant swing in delinquency rates and impairment expenses, as well as an increase in impaired assets, yet ratio of provisions to loans is flat year-on-year, as revealed on slides 18 and 19. What's BSP's outlook on these key credit quality indicators?
Thanks, Paul. Thanks, Mark. A large part of the swing in impairment expenses is by virtue of the fact that the prior two years, which is 2022 and even 2021, had a credit in impairment expense line. And if we go back, the reason for those credits was that in 2020, we took up some large provisions in anticipation of the impact customers will have from COVID-19. Fortunately, our customers bounced back much better than anticipated, and in 2021 and 2022, we had those provisions released. So therefore, 2023, when you compare against the PGK 5 million release in provisions in 2022, shows a very large uplift. Now, I guess the question therefore is: What is the normalized sort of level of run rate in the impairment expense line?
If I go back to 2019, which is a normal year prior to COVID, impairment expense was around the PGK 100 million mark. Since 2019 to now, our loan book has grown by around 20%-25%. So if we take PGK 120 million-PGK 125 million kina as a normal, normalized provision run rate, PGK 185 million kina for 2023 is a bit on the higher side. As I mentioned in my presentation earlier, around PGK 30 million kina of that is directly attributable to one exposure, which has gone to non-performing status. As I mentioned in my presentation, it is fully secured, and we are very comfortable that that will be recovered in full in due course.
Now, there is also some impact of an uplift in our unsecured personal loan write-offs. A number of actions have been undertaken with our credit and our retail teams, including restructuring our collections team, putting more resources in the collections team to make sure that we are able to bring that back to the levels that we expect. Notwithstanding, that unsecured personal loan product remains highly profitable. You've also asked about the provision to loans ratio, flat year-on-year, and the major contributor for that is whilst delinquency rates, which is the 90-day-plus arrears, loans have gone up. We've seen a good improvement in Stage Two loans moving back to Stage One, and that has offset the impact of the increase in impairment expenses.
Also, combined with that was the fact that we've got a strong 12% growth year-on-year in our loan portfolio, and the quality of that growth was quite good. All are still in the Stage One category, as expected. So the loan growth, quality loan growth, combined with improvement from Stage Two to Stage One, offset by the impairment expenses increase, helped us to maintain the loan provision to loans ratio at the same level as the prior year. Thank you.
Thanks, Ronesh. Another question from Mark Tomlins at Trium Capital: What was the direct cost of the civil unrest? Has this also contributed to the deterioration of asset quality?
Thanks, Mark. Yeah, the civil unrest was most unfortunate. BSP fortunately did not have a large direct impact from that unrest. We did lose some of our ATMs and the cash together with the ATMs as well. The total exposure or total loss was less than PGK 2 million... We do recognize our customers have; some of our customers were significantly impacted, and we are very working very closely with our customers to help them through this time. Thank you.
Final question from Mark at Trium Capital: How are FX restrictions and Bank of PNG lack of foreign currency impacting the business, its FX operations, and dividend paying capability?
Thank you, Mark. The FX regime or currency regime that exists in Papua New Guinea has been in place for over 12 years. The biggest impact is obviously on our customers, our corporate customers, particularly those that are importing items. And they've learned very much how to manage their business in line with the requirements of the foreign currency availability. For BSP, our business, both in PNG and the other markets in which we operate, is overwhelmingly a local currency business. So in Papua New Guinea, we borrow in kina, and we lend in kina. Our transactions are overwhelmingly onshore transactions, so the impact is not that material on BSP. The regime is most...
The currency regime is most impactful on obviously those importers and customers of ours that have to learn how to manage within the constraints of the system. With respect to the dividend paying capability of BSP, and there obviously a number of our shareholders receive their dividends in foreign currency, that is more than funded by the earnings that the bank has outside of PNG, so not directly impacted by the exchange controls in the country.
Thank you, Mark. A question from Danny Robinson, Credit Corporation: It is noted revenue is up 8.4% year-on-year, with expenses excluding tax up 24%. How much of these expense increases relate to one-off core banking system installation and re-remediation?
Thanks, Paul. Thanks, Danny. So the one-off core banking system implementation and remediation was around the PGK 40 million mark for 2023. Although, having said that, we have to realize that the project has been going on for a number of years, and 2023 expense was around the PGK 40 million mark. In terms of the total cost of the core banking project, that was close to PGK 500 million over a 6-year period. We have been prudent in the way we've dealt with these expenses, so hardware has been capitalized as and when purchased, and software amortized as and when we've implemented.
So we implemented the system first in Vanuatu back in 2021, where we capitalized it at the time, and all the incremental costs subsequent to that was capitalized when we went live with respect to the software in Papua New Guinea. So in terms of the current book value, it's down to just over PGK 200 million and basically, we continue. I guess, in terms of the overall question about expenses, as I've mentioned in my earlier slide, we are, with the capitalization of the core banking system and that project out of the way, our investments going forward will be more focused on the modernization initiatives that Mark has touched on. Thank you.
Thank you, Ronesh. Thank you, Ronesh. One last question from Daryl Chia at CV Capital. Daryl Chia asked, "Are the issues associated with the bank's new IT system being 100% resolved? And secondly, what is the management forecast for FX flows and availability in FY 2024? Does management think FX flows will be greater than in FY 2024?
Thanks, Paul. Thanks, Daryl. With the bank's new IT system, we are very comfortable that the system is stable now. Having said that, we recognize that there are a number of optimization initiatives that we can implement to improve our customer experience with the new core banking system. So we've moved from being stable mode, which we have achieved, to optimization mode now. And as we progress that with the modern core banking system that we have now, we think we'll be able to leverage that and significantly improve our customer experience on that front.
In terms of our forecast for FX flows and availability for 2024, again, we don't give forecasts out to the market, but if you generally look at the market context, we've got Porgera, which has come back, and Mark touched on that in his presentation. That is expected to have a positive contribution to the market. We have some large projects that we've all heard from the government. We are looking forward to those projects, kicking off in due course, whether it's this year or next year, and expecting some good contribution from those projects in the FX market. Thank you.
Thank you, Ronesh. Well, that concludes our question and answer session. With no further questions, I'd like now to close out today's investor presentation. Thank you everyone who attended. Appreciate it.