Bendigo and Adelaide Bank (BEN) has raised a total of $20.2 million as at June 30 in specific and collective provisions relating to loans for its Great Southern Managed Investment Scheme portfolio.
BEN has established an internal taskforce to oversee its $550 million portfolio of Great Southern loans and a help centre to assist Great Southern borrowers.
BEN managing director Mike Hirst said the BEN board had raised the provisions as a prudent response to the likely credit response of the portfolio.
He said the bank would “continue to engage with the relevant parties to determine what steps could be taken to protect its interests and those of its customers”.
The Great Southern portfolio represents less than 1.5 per cent of the total Bendigo and Adelaide Bank asset base, according to Hirst.
BEN’s exposure to borrowers in Great Southern Managed Investment Schemes is approximately $550 million dollars, spread across 8,200 borrowers.
The loans are full-recourse to each individual borrower, with an average exposure of less than $70,000, and are spread across every state and territory, he said.
BEN also announced that an additional $14.4 million has been raised in specific provisions at June 30, due primarily to the deterioration in asset values in the commercial property sector.
