KEY POINTS
- CreditBank’s deposits rose 84% to K832.8 million in six months, but its loan book shrank slightly to K439.8 million.
- It now lends about 53 kina for every 100 kina of deposits, down from 98 in December.
- Impaired loans in Credit Corporation’s finance division rose from 5.6% to 8.7% in a year.
- Credit Corporation does not disclose how much it lends to small businesses, the market CreditBank was built to serve.
Danny Robinson built CreditBank PNG on the argument that a broader credit market would reach PNG’s small businesses. The bank’s first 18 months show how far new money goes, and where it stops.
The promise
“I believe the SMEs, the commercial customers and the high net worth individuals have been ignored,” Danny Robinson told Business Advantage PNG in March 2022, six months after Credit Corporation (PNG) Limited confirmed him as chief executive. His board had just signed off on turning a 42-year-old finance company into a licensed bank.
Robinson’s case, as he put it to the same publication, was that Credit Corporation had long “banked the unbankable customer who is starting up a business.” It had done so mostly through equipment finance. Once those businesses grew and could offer security, he wanted to give them what the incumbent banks provided: deposits, transactions, overdrafts and term loans under one roof.
Robinson targeted the end of 2022 for the licence. According to Credit Corporation’s 2025 annual report, its subsidiary Credit Corporation Finance Ltd became “a fully licensed commercial bank in August 2024” and now trades as CreditBank PNG. The Bank of Papua New Guinea licensed TISA Bank in the same round, and Treasurer Ian Ling-Stuckey told an investment conference in December 2024, as The National reported, that a third new bank, National Banking Corporation, was about to be licensed. He said no new banks had been set up in 20 years.
Bank of PNG Governor Elizabeth Genia gave the regulator’s reason in August 2024, according to PNG Facts. Overseas banks had closed or changed strategy, retail banking providers had thinned out, and the result was “a concentration of market share” that she described as a risk to the financial system. She listed support for SMEs among the benefits she expected from new entrants.
A market built around one bank
In a 2024 financial sector review, the International Monetary Fund found that BSP Financial Group holds a market share of close to 60% in PNG banking. The same review put total bank loans to the private sector at around 14% of GDP, and estimated that 75% of Papua New Guineans sit outside the formal financial system.
PNG’s 2016 SME Policy, as summarised by University of PNG economist Win Nicholas on the Devpolicy Blog, counted about 49,500 SMEs contributing 6% of GDP, and set a target of 500,000 SMEs by 2030 producing half of national output. The Asian Development Bank’s 2022 survey of SME finance in Asia and the Pacific still listed the SME share of PNG’s GDP at 6%, on 2018 data.
The Bank of PNG’s March 2026 Economic Outlook described the banking system as carrying excess liquidity, with banks parking an average of K1.6 billion a week in the central bank’s seven-day facility. The same report put the weighted average lending rate at 8.3% and the weighted average deposit rate at 1.1%. It also noted that small and medium businesses faced tighter margins after the minimum wage rose from K3.50 to K5.00 on 1 January 2026.
According to a PNG National Research Institute study published in April 2025, the government put K100 million into an MSME loan scheme in the 2019 supplementary budget and K200 million in each later year, lent through BSP and the National Development Bank. The NRI surveyed 585 small business owners who had completed business training. Of those who sought a grant, subsidy or loan, 78% were turned down. The researchers named the reasons: land is not accepted as collateral, the paperwork defeats micro-enterprises with few records, and too few lenders are accredited.
On the NRI’s evidence, the binding constraint on SME credit in PNG has been risk, records and security rather than the supply of funds.
What the incumbents already offer
Business Advantage PNG reported in June 2021 that BSP was accepting bank statements in place of audited accounts for small business loan applications, a change it said had helped it lend over K200 million to the sector. BSP had also cut the equity requirement on SME loans under the government-backed scheme from 30% to 10%, and raised the scheme’s maximum loan from K3 million to K5 million. In the same report, Kina Bank’s then chief executive Greg Pawson flagged plans for an SME capital fund to invest directly in growing firms.
The NRI study, published in April 2025, named BSP and the National Development Bank as the participating lenders and recommended opening the scheme to micro-lenders serving firms with turnover below K500,000. None of the Credit Corporation filings Exepreneur reviewed mentions participation in the scheme.
What CreditBank has built
Robinson told the company’s annual general meeting on 26 June 2026 that CreditBank signed more than 18,500 personal banking customers in its first full year, 2025, with 70% onboarded digitally. Online and mobile banking transactions reached K533.9 million, up more than 2,727%. Net operating income rose 82.4% to K64.4 million. He called the result “a validation of our digital-first strategy.”
In a March 2026 interview with Business Advantage PNG, Robinson said accounts had been opened in all 22 provinces and that “results have exceeded expectations.” Corporate clients had asked CreditBank to open accounts for whole workforces, and the bank was rolling out EFTPOS terminals to business customers. He listed SoftPOS, an agency network and Visa debit card issuing for smaller financial institutions among the 2026 plans.
The half-year filing to 30 June 2026, lodged with the PNG National Stock Exchange on 14 September 2026, records that CreditBank had 25,324 retail banking customers, up 125% on a year earlier, and 1,719 business banking customers, up 197%. Online and mobile transactions for the six months reached K457.6 million, against K137.1 million in the first half of 2025.
CreditBank held K832.8 million in customer deposits at 30 June 2026, according to the same filing. At 31 December 2025 the annual report recorded K452.1 million. By Exepreneur’s calculation, that is a rise of K380.7 million, or 84%, in six months. Across the whole Credit Corporation group, deposits rose 46% to K1.26 billion over the half.
Where the lending stopped
CreditBank’s net loans stood at K441.3 million at the end of 2025, up 39% for the year, according to the annual report, which credited “strong growth in business lending” together with new housing loans, overdrafts and term loans. Six months later, the half-year filing put loan receivables at K439.8 million. The book was K1.5 million smaller than in December, while deposits had nearly doubled.
CreditBank lent out about 98 kina for every 100 kina of deposits at the end of 2025. By June 2026 it lent out about 53. Exepreneur calculated both ratios from the filed loan and deposit figures. Kina Bank, also listed on the PNG National Stock Exchange, lent about 71 kina per 100 kina of deposits at 31 December 2025, based on its full-year Appendix 5C: net loans of K3,252.9 million against customer deposits of K4,575.6 million.
| CreditBank | 30 Jun 2025 | 31 Dec 2025 | 30 Jun 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Net loans (K million) | 399.5 | 441.3 | 439.8 |
| Customer deposits (K million) | 522.4 | 452.1 | 832.8 |
| Loans per 100 kina of deposits | 76 | 98 | 53 |
Sources: Credit Corporation H1 2025 announcement, 2025 annual report and H1 2026 announcement; ratios calculated by Exepreneur.
Credit Corporation’s Finance Division, which includes CreditBank and the group’s other lending books, reported impaired assets equal to 8.7% of gross loans at 30 June 2026. A year earlier the same measure was 5.6%, according to the H1 2025 results announcement. That is a rise of 3.1 percentage points in twelve months. The group’s 2026 half-year statement said higher operating costs and impairments offset lending growth and stronger banking revenue.
The Finance Division’s net interest margin fell to 11.7% from 13.8% a year earlier, on the two half-year filings. The 2026 announcement describes the fall as 1.7%; the filed margins differ by 2.1 percentage points, a gap the company has not explained.
Credit Corporation does not disclose how much of its lending goes to SMEs. The annual report refers to growth in business lending without a figure. It gives no split between business, personal, housing and asset finance, and no SME loan count. Its asset-quality disclosure is a single ratio for the whole Finance Division, which combines CreditBank with the group’s other lending.
Kina Bank, by comparison, reported non-performing loans and arrears of 7.7% of gross loans and advances for 2025, and gross non-performing loans over 180 days of 6.4%. The two lenders define the measure differently, so the comparison is indicative only. Kina’s own credit costs also rose: its loan impairment expense more than doubled to K39.0 million in 2025 from K18.2 million, according to the same filing.
The parent’s balance sheet
Credit Corporation reported net profit after tax of K190.8 million for 2025, down from K263.9 million in 2024, according to its annual report. Investment revaluations dropped to K122.5 million from K196.8 million, a K74.3 million fall that exceeds the K73.1 million drop in profit. Core operating profit, the measure the group uses to strip out those gains, rose to K88.3 million from K85.4 million. Robinson’s annual report message attributed the lower profit to “investments in personnel and lower fair value gains.”
The Finance Division earned K39.1 million after tax in 2025, up 46.7%, and group net interest income rose 35.3% to K95.9 million, which the annual report called the largest single contributor to income growth. Group net loan receivables reached K866.7 million, up 45.9%.
In the first half of 2026, net profit after tax was K133.0 million against K132.1 million a year earlier, according to the September 2026 announcement, while core operating profit fell to K59.0 million from K65.2 million. Total group assets reached K2.76 billion, up 22% since December.
The annual report gives total risk-weighted capital of 40.4% at group level and describes CreditBank as “well capitalised” without a separate ratio. Kina Bank reported total capital adequacy of 17.1% for 2025. Credit Corporation’s expense-to-income ratio rose to 64.5% in 2025 from 60.7%, and CreditBank had 139 of the group’s 450 staff.
Board chair Lady Winifred Kamit said in the September 2026 results release that dividend income had moderated “as we repositioned our investment portfolio to reduce the Group’s interest in BSP.” On 28 August 2026, BSP told the Australian Securities Exchange that Credit Corporation had ceased to be a substantial shareholder, meaning its stake had fallen below 5%. Back in 2022, Business Advantage PNG reported the holding at 7%, and Robinson suggested at the time that the property portfolio could be sold to help fund the move to a bank, including its capital requirements.
None of the filings Exepreneur reviewed says how the proceeds will be used.
Pricing, and the gap it leaves
Credit Corporation’s Finance Division earned a net interest margin of 11.7% in the first half of 2026, against Kina Bank’s 6.8% for 2025. The comparison is not like for like: the Finance Division includes lending beyond CreditBank, such as the group’s equipment finance. The group’s history, in Robinson’s 2022 account, is secured equipment finance for businesses the banks would not take. Across the banking system, the gap between the central bank’s average lending rate of 8.3% and average deposit rate of 1.1% is 7.2 percentage points.
CreditBank’s headline offers are for consumers. Robinson told Business Advantage PNG in March 2026 that the bank offers a fixed home loan rate of 4.99% for the first 12 months, waives account-keeping fees for customers who deposit part of their salary, and charges no EFTPOS or ATM fees to card holders. There is no equivalent published offer aimed at small businesses. Neither the March 2026 interview nor the June 2026 AGM speech mentions SMEs by name.
What a broader market can and cannot do
A broader banking market has added competition for deposits, payments and household lending. CreditBank’s customer growth, its 1,719 business banking accounts and its card and EFTPOS push give small firms a second option for transactions. A business that banks its takings digitally builds the records a lender needs, and records were one of the reasons the NRI found SME applicants being turned away.
The filings show no step change in SME credit. CreditBank’s loan book did not grow in the first half of 2026. The Finance Division’s impaired-asset ratio rose from 5.6% to 8.7% in a year. Its own disclosures do not separate SME lending at all. The collateral problem the NRI identified, that customary land cannot be pledged, applies to every bank in PNG, new or old.
Robinson’s 2022 argument rested on a specific model: start small businesses on secured equipment finance, then graduate them to full banking once they can offer security. That model widens the market at the top of the SME segment, among firms with assets to finance. It does less for the micro-enterprises that the government scheme was meant to reach. The annual report’s own description of the target market reads “middle market to high net worth, small to medium enterprise and commercial segments.”
The economy CreditBank is lending into
In the March 2026 interview, Robinson said he was “very positive” on the economy, pointed to extractive-industry projects as the growth driver, and named a growing middle-market segment as an opportunity. At the June 2026 AGM he was more measured, saying Pacific growth would moderate in 2026 while PNG’s non-resource economy, household incomes and easing inflation gave the group reason for optimism.
The Bank of PNG estimated real GDP growth of 5.3% for 2025 and projected 3.0% for 2026, with non-resource growth slowing to 3.2% from 4.0%. It raised its 2026 headline inflation forecast to 4.0% from 3.0%, and expects private sector credit to grow 9.7% in 2026, after 9.4% in 2025.
The Financial Action Task Force placed PNG under increased monitoring, its so-called grey list, in February 2026. Governor Genia listed PNG’s response to the grey-listing among the central bank’s priorities in an August 2026 opinion piece for Business Advantage PNG. In the same piece she said reforms to make the Kina Facility Rate work better require “greater competition in the banking sector.”
The numbers that settle it
Two figures are missing from Credit Corporation’s disclosures. The first is an SME lending figure: how much CreditBank lends to small businesses, how many borrowers, and how those loans perform. The second is a bank-level impaired-loan ratio for CreditBank on its own, separate from the rest of the Finance Division.
Credit Corporation published neither in its 2025 annual report nor in its 2026 half-year filing. It released its 2025 full-year results on 13 March 2026. Its next full-year results will show whether CreditBank’s K832.8 million in deposits has started to become business loans. At 30 June 2026, it had lent out K439.8 million.
