Thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Kina Securities Limited Annual General Meeting. I would now like to turn the conference over to Mr. Isikeli Taureka, Chairman. Please go ahead.
Thank you. Good morning. My name is Isikeli Taureka, I'm the Chairman of Kina Securities Limited. I have the pleasure in welcoming you to Kina's 2023 Annual General Meeting. We have a quorum of shareholders, I'm pleased to declare the meeting open. To encourage and facilitate broad participation of this meeting, the Board decided to continue the online format, which we began in COVID. I'm very pleased, therefore, to welcome all shareholders participating online today through Kina's virtual meeting platform. Firstly, I would like to introduce you to my fellow Directors: Karen Smith-Pomeroy, who is Chair of our Audit Committee and is a member of the Risk Committee, Remuneration and Nomination Committee, and the Disclosure Committee, who is also standing for re-election today. Jane Thomason, who is our Chair for Remuneration and Nomination Committee.
Andrew Carriline, who is a member of the Audit Committee, Risk Committee, Remuneration and Nomination Committee, and the Disclosure Committee. Paul Hutchinson, who is Chair of the Risk Committee and a member of the Audit Committee. Also present and online is Greg Pawson, our Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Johnson Kalo, our Chief Financial Officer and Company Secretary, and David Rogers, our auditor from Deloitte. David will be available to answer any questions you may have about the conduct of the audit. The agenda for today's meeting is set out on the slide. I will now provide a brief overview of the company's progress to date before turning the meeting over to Greg Pawson to give us a further update on the company's operations and activities. 2022 has not been without its very particular challenges.
Despite the attention on and interest generated by national elections, the economy posted overall growth of 4.6% in 2022, driven by the resources sector, and in particular, revenue from mining activities, which grew by 13.5%. The company achieved 10% underlying net profit growth to PGK 106.1 million. For 2021, it was PGK 96.2 million. This, supported by solid revenue growth in core banking products and digital services. Non-interest bearing products, largely through digital channel transactions, provided 50% of the bank's revenue, whilst we achieved continued growth in funds administration and funds management businesses. The bank grew deposits by 28% and net loans by 10% year-on-year, reflecting the bank's ongoing financial strength while investing to improve customer experience.
Over the last three years, I can confidently say we have made strong progress. While supporting solid balance sheet growth, we have maintained sound levels of capital and adequacy, about 20% of risk-weighted assets. Pleasingly, our ROE was 17.9%. Restored to the level it was prior to the 2020 capital raising, demonstrating our ability to pursue our strategy and deliver quality returns. The board declared a final dividend of 16.1 toea, AUD 0.065, bringing the full year dividend for 2022 to 26.4 toea, or AUD 0.106. This demonstrates the board's commitment to judiciously returning earnings back to the owners of our business when growth is achieved, whilst returning, retaining sufficient capital to fund strategic growth.
At the halfway mark of our 2025 strategy, I'm pleased of what we've achieved so far, given the global pandemic and difficult economic conditions over this time. We are delivering market-leading digital products and partnerships. Our teams are engaged. Gender diversity is a benchmark with ASX-listed companies. We achieved customer growth of over 20% over the past three years. Kina is the only well-established challenger brand and the most viable alternative to the dominant market leader in the PNG market. Looking ahead, our growth agenda, fueled by expanding our digital capabilities and enhancing the skills of our people, is designed to improve value for all our stakeholders with the purpose of delivering prosperity to the communities in which we serve.
Whilst I still harbor some optimism about the next two years for Kina, it cannot go unmentioned that we are confronted with some difficult challenges, such as the high corporate tax income rate for Papua New Guinea banks. At 45%, this tax is ill-conceived, the highest in the region and somewhat discriminatory. Despite this, and pleasingly, the PNG Treasury have agreed to an extended consultation period and are in discussions with the IMF regarding alternative fiscal budget strategies. In PNG, strong economic growth of 4% is predicted with the confidence that major negotiation advancements in two key mining projects is likely to be achieved in 2023. This, coupled with the progress of the Papua LNG project, is paving the way for more opportunities for economic activities.
Kina's commercial lending hub expansion to five regional areas will provide these growing communities with a customer-centric banking alternative. Your Board remains alert to Pan Pacific opportunities to rebalance the risk of concentration in the large PNG market with other regional markets. The Board expresses its deep appreciation to all our staff at Kina for their professional diligence and commitment to create the most dynamic, forward-thinking, and accessible financial services company in the Pan Pacific region. Much has been achieved over the last three years, and we have the confidence that Greg and his capable team will continue to deliver to all our stakeholders. I thank my Board of Directors for their ongoing support and solid leadership. Their excellent knowledge, diligence, and assistance in creating a strong customer-focused organization is paving the road for innovation and, in turn, improving the future of PNG.
To our shareholders, I extend our appreciation for your confidence and trust in our company. Your steadfast support has enabled us to make investments in new technology, expand our market reach, and position ourselves for sustainable growth. We remain committed to delivering long-term value for our shareholders and the communities we serve. Also, we continue to work diligently to meet and exceed your expectations. Finally, I've had the honor of serving as Chair of Kina for the past five years. In that time, we have grown to PNG's second-largest bank, employing over 600 people and have reached nearly 700,000 customers. Kina is a business with strong potential for growth. The Board is confident that the 2025 strategy will support all of our stakeholders through the challenges and opportunities ahead of us. I will now ask Greg to give his thoughts on Kina Group's performance.
Thank you, Chairman, and good morning, everyone. As the Chair just indicated, Kina steadily progressed through 2022, navigating a year that started with quite an eventful and rather drawn-out election period that did affect business confidence. We saw that recover quite strongly in the second half. The highlights of the steady strategic advance in year three of Kina's current five-year strategic plan include continued strong 10% growth in fees and commissions, and this was driven largely by digital revenues, which were up 88% year- on- year. This is an area for us that continues to show a great deal of promise and further growth opportunities moving forward.
The bank achieved solid interest income growth of 8% as business relationships continued to develop throughout the year, and lending volumes overall grew 11%, with home lending a standout at 20% growth year-on-year as markets recovered with the increased impetus in the second half of the year. The funds administration and funds management businesses continued to return solid growth, very consistent with prior years, and we're expecting that trend to continue. Continuing high levels of domestic market liquidity saw deposit volumes continue to increase in line with overall business growth, especially with digital products driving transactional accounts growth and selected strategic relationships being formed in our business bank. Some of the notable activities in 2022 highlight the advance made on our strategic goals.
We were able to execute on first-in-market digital products such as WhatsApp Banking, Xero feeds for our SME customers, and the full implementation of our market-leading Internet Payment Gateway. We were also able to provide an integrated POS solution for several major retailers across the country, and our private bank and corporate advisory services were launched, providing a market-leading, competitive, high-value customer segment proposition in the market. We opened our inaugural co-branded branch with MiBank in Alotau, Milne Bay Province, highlighting the strength of that partnership that we have with MiBank for the provision of financial inclusion. We've got some exciting plans over the next two to three years for several further co-branded branches in secondary provincial locations across PNG, where we currently don't have any representation.
We've made some important and timely adjustments, given our growth to our organizational management structure, to take full advantage of the opportunities that we see in the market and to make us a little bit more nimble and to speed up the execution of some of our major strategic imperatives. We've started to build sophisticated depth in our expertise in lending and our credit functions. We have commenced the process of appointing some very skilled and experienced people into senior executive roles, particularly technology, to add to our capabilities in these strategically critical business areas in 2023. Over 2022, we were very excited to fully implement our environmental, social, and governance strategy. This strategy has a sustainable communities pillar. The inaugural sustainability report outlines our aspirations to be a leader in sustainability throughout PNG, focusing on inclusion, transparency, and protecting our environment.
You can read our inaugural sustainability report on the investor page on our website.... The outlook for Kina in 2023 looks very positive. It will require up-to-date understanding of our markets, intelligent application of technology, and continuing our strong commitment to excelling in customer service. We've already intensified our resource focus for business banking and agribusiness, and we're positioning ourselves for the much-anticipated wave of economic activity related to the progress on a number of large natural resource projects, around a $30 billion investment over the next five to 10 years. We gain much confidence from having proved our ability to deliver sustainable growth against a backdrop of global economic uncertainty and some challenging policy constraints that the Chairman touched on.
As always, we will continue to carefully balance risks and rewards, costs and revenues through the next phase of our growth cycle. I would like to thank our Chairman and the Board for their professional counsel, our amazing staff for all their hard work, resilience, and passion in helping our customers, and truly differentiating ourselves as a competitive challenger brand. Of course, to you, our shareholders, thank you for the support and confidence that you've shown in Kina over the years. I'm certain we're moving in the right direction to fulfilling our vision of being the most dynamic, progressive, and accessible financial services organization in the Pan Pacific, and we're well on track to deliver on our current 2025 strategic plan objectives. Thank you.
Thank you, Greg. We will now move to the formal part of the meeting. The notice of meeting, dated 11 May 2023, was released to the ASX and shareholders on 11th of May. It is available on the company's website as well as in the download section of the virtual meeting platform. I will take the notice of meeting as read. I would like to draw your attention to the ASX and PNGX announcement issued yesterday by the company, advising that Resolution 5, regarding the approval of the additional 10% placement facility, has been withdrawn from today's Annual General Meeting.
The reason that Resolution 5 has been withdrawn from today's meeting is that after issuing the notice of meeting, the company has received feedback from several shareholders that they would prefer to vote on an issue of capital that is related to a specific transaction, rather than provide the company with a authority to issue another 10% of the company's capital without a specific transaction being contemplated by the company. The withdrawal of Resolution 5 will have no adverse impact on the company and will not impact the validity of proxy forms or any proxy or direct votes already submitted in respect to the remaining items of business. All other items of business, including in the notice of meeting, will be put to shareholders.
If you wish to ask a question, please submit questions by selecting the Ask a Question tab located in the upper right corner of the screen. You can submit questions now or any time prior to the vote on the relevant resolution, and they will be dealt with at the appropriate time. If you have a question already prepared, please submit it now so that as many questions as possible can be answered. Questions must relate to the relevant item of business. There will be an opportunity to ask general questions towards the end of the meeting. I ask that you keep your questions short and to the point, so that as many shareholders as possible have the chance to ask a question. All questions will go through to a moderator.
As Chair, I will then read out the question, and I will either answer the question or pass it to the most appropriate person to answer. We reserve the right to rule out questions not relating to the AGM or out of order. We will endeavor to answer all questions in the allotted time today. I will put each resolution to the meeting in turn. The terms of each resolution will be displayed on the screen. Shareholders then will be given an opportunity to ask questions or make a comment in relation to that resolution. We will display the number of proxy votes received for the resolution, then the vote will be taken. I will also provide an opportunity for shareholders to ask general questions after all the resolutions have been considered.
More information regarding online participation, including how to vote and ask questions online, is available on the Virtual Meeting Online Guide. The Virtual Meeting Online Guide was released to the ASX. It is also available on the company's website or in the download section of the virtual meeting platform. I will now move to the formal business of the meeting. Receipt of the 2022 AGM minutes. This item of general business is to receive, consider, and accept the minutes of the previous A nnual General Meeting, held 24th of May, 2022, and signed by myself on 23rd of August, 2022, as a correct record of the meeting, which the Company Secretary has passed to me now. Receipt and consideration of reports. Kina's 2022 annual report contains the financial report, directors' report, and the independent auditor's report, which I shall refer to collectively as the reports.
A copy of Kina's 2022 annual report is available on the company's website, as well as the Download section of the virtual meeting platform. The financial statements have been audited by Deloitte and approved by the directors. This item is the receipt and consideration of the reports of Kina. It is not a resolution that requires a vote. I will take the reports as read and would like to take any general questions or comments about the reports or for the auditor. Are there any questions or discussion on Kina's report or for the auditor?
No, Chair, there are no questions.
Thank you. We will now move to the resolution set out in the notice of meeting. Resolution 1, re-election of Director Karen Smith-Pomeroy. The first item of business is the re-election of Karen Smith-Pomeroy as a Director of the company. The resolution is displayed on the slide. This resolution is an ordinary resolution, which requires a simple majority of votes cast by shareholders present and entitled to vote on the resolution. The Board, excluding Karen Smith-Pomeroy, unanimously recommend shareholders vote for this resolution. Are there any questions about the re-election of Karen Smith-Pomeroy as a Director of the company?
No, there are no questions.
It appears that there are no further questions. Proxies received are shown on the screen. If there is no discussion, I now put this resolution to the meeting. On your electronic voting card, please now select "For," "Against," or "Abstain" next to Resolution 1. Resolution 2, appointment of auditor. Resolution 2 relates to the appointment of auditor of Deloitte as the auditor of the company. The resolution is displayed on the slide. This resolution is an ordinary resolution, which requires a simple majority of votes cast by shareholders present and entitled to vote on the resolution. The Board unanimously recommends shareholders vote for this resolution. Are there any questions about appointment of Deloitte as the auditor of the company?
No, there are no questions, Chair.
Thank you. The proxies received are shown on the screen. If there is no further discussion, I now put this resolution to the meeting. On your electronic voting card, please now select "For," "Against," or "Abstain" next to Resolution 2 . Thank you. Resolution 3, grant of rights to MD and CEO for financial year 2022. Resolution 3 is the approval of the grant of performance rights to Mr. Pawson for the financial year 2022. The resolution is displayed on the slide. This resolution is an ordinary resolution, which requires a simple majority of votes cast by shareholders present and entitled to vote on the resolution. The Board, excluding Greg Pawson, unanimously recommends shareholders vote for this resolution. Are there any questions about the grant of performance rights to Mr. Pawson for financial year 2022?
No, there are no questions, Chair. I might add that the Chair, the CEO's LTI rights and entitlements are detailed in the Annual Report and the Remuneration Report therein.
Thank you. It appears there are no further questions. Proxies received are shown on the screen. If there is no further discussion, I now put this resolution to the meeting. On your electronic voting card, please now select "For," "Against," or "Abstain" next to Resolution 3. Resolution 4, approval of the Kina Performance Rights Plan. Resolution 4 relates to the approval of the Kina Performance Rights Plan. This resolution is displayed on the slide. This resolution is an ordinary resolution, which requires a simple majority of votes cast by shareholders present and entitled to vote on the resolution. The Board unanimously recommends shareholders vote for this resolution. Are there any questions about the approval of the Kina Performance Rights Plan?
No, there are no questions, Chair.
Thank you. As there are no further questions, we can continue to look at the proxies received on the screen. I now put this resolution to the meeting. On your electronic voting card, please now select "For," "Against," or "Abstain" next to Resolution 4. Resolution 6: approval of the Dividend Reinvestment Plan. As I previously mentioned, Resolution 5, relating to the approval of the 10% additional placement capacity, has been withdrawn, so we will proceed directly to Resolution 6. Resolution 6 is the approval of the Dividend Reinvestment Plan. This resolution is displayed on the slide. This resolution is an ordinary resolution, which requires a simple majority of votes cast by shareholders present and entitled to vote on the resolution. The Board unanimously recommends shareholders vote for this resolution. Are there any questions about the approval of the Dividend Reinvestment Plan?
There are two questions, Chair. I will read them out. Given the interesting discussions across a range of topics today, including this DRP item, could the Chair undertake to make an archived copy of the webcast, plus a full transcript of proceedings available on the company website? The likes of ASX-listed companies, Nine, AGL, ASX, ANZ, Domino's, and Lendlease all produced their first AGM transcripts in 2021. Will you follow suit today? We will certainly consider that, and we can consider a transcript to be made available.
Thank you, Johnson.
There is a second question, Chair. In relation to this resolution, is that: why are we approving a DRP at the same time as seeking approval to expand our placement capacity? DRPs are not required to be approved in Australia. Is this a PNG requirement? Yes, it is a PNG requirement, in answer to the second part of the question. In answer to the first part of the question, the resolution for the additional 10% placement has been withdrawn. There is no conflicting objective in terms of this resolution. Thank you, Chair.
Thank you, Johnson. If there are no further questions, we can proceed to show the proxies on the screen. I now put this resolution to the meeting. On your electronic voting card, please now select for, against, or abstain next to Resolution 6. This concludes the formal part of the meeting. Please submit your votes now if you haven't already done so. The poll will also close five minutes after the end of the meeting. As I mentioned earlier, the results of this meeting will be announced to ASX as soon as the votes have been counted and verified. I would now like to invite any other questions or general comments about the company. Before I do, I will address some general questions received from the shareholders ahead of today's meeting. There is a question: Do we think the company is receiving appropriate support from Australian capital markets?
If not, are we pursuing economic alliances in any other capital markets? We are grateful for the support received so far in the Australian market. I can say our shares are more actively traded than for the other PNG bank listed on the ASX. Our business fundamentals are sound. We are quietly confident that these align with shareholder preferences. We are not, at the moment, actively pursuing economic alliances in other markets. I have another question: Is Kina considering opening?
Ladies and gentlemen, this is the conference operator. We have temporarily lost connection with the speaker line. Please continue to hold, and the conference will resume momentarily. Pardon me, you are now reconnected. Please go ahead.
Thank you, and apologies to all those attending this meeting in relation to that dropout. I believe that I was at question two, which is considering opening more branches in the Southwest Pacific. My response to that is, as Kina becomes aware of opportunities, they will be considered on the basis of strategic alignment, economic merit, and contribution to overall shareholder value. Question three received: Does Kina have plans to increase the number of branches or sub-branches throughout PNG in light of recent problems faced by Bank South Pacific? We consider that the recent problems faced by BSP are short-term, and we'll be cautious about making long-term commitments in response to short-term opportunities. In addition, as I stated in response to the previous question, we assess new opportunities on the merits and contribution to shareholder value.
Another question, in relation to the previous question, when will Kina open a branch or sub-branch in Buka and in Arawa, in the autonomous region of Bougainville? At the present time, Kina's strategy for reaching into the provincial areas where it is not currently represented, is to maximize its partnership with MiBank, which has a branch in Buka and complements Kina's digital strategy. Kina has a 10% shareholding in MiBank. Another question here: Does Kina have any plans to enter the Australian or New Zealand banking markets? As I said earlier, as Kina becomes aware of opportunities, they will be considered on the basis of economic merit and contribution to overall shareholder value. That said, Australian and New Zealand are mature markets dominated by a number of very large banks with different regulatory regimes.
Therefore, any decisions in any of these markets will need to be taken very, very carefully. I have some more questions.
Thank you, Chair. We have received the following general business questions. I'll read them out, and then we will allocate to the appropriate officer to answer. Do any of the five main proxy advisors which cover ASX-listed companies, ACSI, Ownership Matters, Glass Lewis, ISS, and ASA, cover our company? In addition to Resolution 5, has there been any material proxy protest votes against any items of business? Will you disclose the proxy votes before the debate on each resolution, so shareholders can ask questions about the have there been any protest votes? Also, why not disclose the proxies to the ASX with a formal address like others now do? I don't believe we are covered by the ASX, by the five main proxy advisors.
There have been no material proxy votes against any items of business other than Resolution 5, which has been withdrawn. The next question was: Have we had any further discussions with Westpac since last year's blocked acquisition, and how has Westpac been conducting themselves in the market? Are they a disinterested competitor lacking capital support from Australia, or have they redoubled their efforts to grow market share in the Pacific? I will refer the question to the CEO.
Thank you, Johnson. I think it's fair to say, particularly in PNG, Westpac are not a formidable competitor. BSP we regard as our most active competitor in that market, obviously, by virtue of the scale that they have. I think our general view, and this is just based on interaction with Westpac's management on the ground, they're obviously part of the PNG Bankers Association as well, is that their growth aspirations in both PNG and Fiji are relatively benign. There doesn't appear to be a great deal of risk appetite to continue to expand and grow their businesses, and that's certainly what we're seeing from a competitive point of view.
Thank you, Greg. I think we have one more question.
There is a final one, Chair. If one of the Big Four Australian banks launched a takeover bid for Kina, does the Chair believe that it would be blocked by the PNG government? Apart from Westpac, which of the other Big Four Australian banks are significant competitors to Kina in the Pacific? Also, the Chair and Greg on this one.
I'll get Greg to answer this one first, and then I'll follow him on the PNG aspects. Over to you, Greg.
Yes. Thanks, Chair. As I just mentioned, the major competitor for us in the PNG market is BSP. ANZ Bank shareholders will recall we acquired their retail, SME, and commercial business around three years ago. They're a corporate bank in PNG. They only bank largely the Australian multinationals. I think they have around 250 customers. They're not a direct competitor with us, per se. I did give some passing comments on Westpac's position as well. Would the PNG government block an approach by one of the Big Four to come into PNG? I doubt that. That was one of the issues they had with our bid two years ago to acquire Westpac's PNG business, that they didn't want to see an Australian bank leave the market.
I think they would encourage any Australian bank that wanted to set up in PNG to do so. However, I can't see a great deal of motivation in that respect. It's interesting that actually all the four major Australian banks were at some time in PNG. Commonwealth Bank now both exited. ANZ obviously sold their retail business to us recently. Westpac's really the only remaining retail banking operation in the country.
Thank you, Greg. I think from the PNG government's perspective, they'd like to see more competition in the banking sector. In addition to this particular question, they welcome investments from other banks in the region as well. Okay, I think that's. Once again,
No further questions.
There's no further questions. Please ensure that you submit your votes online and use your voting card, if not done so already. If there are no further questions, that concludes the business of the meeting. I now declare the meeting closed, thank you for attending, and for your continued support for Kina Securities. Thank you very much.
That does conclude our conference for today. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.