Heartland New Zealand says it is in the final stages of registering as a bank and expects the Reserve Bank to come to the end of its registration process in November.
Heartland's after-tax profit more than tripled to $23.6 million in the year to June, compared with $7.1 million last year, which was largely driven by its acquisition of PGG Wrightson Finance.
The would-be bank was established last year through the merger of CBS Canterbury, Southern Cross Building Society and Marac Finance.
Heartland chief executive Jeff Greenslade says it has been a lengthy process to register as a bank, but the company needs to position itself so it can benefit from people choosing to switch banks.
Mr Greenslade says while trading conditions are likely to remain challenging, Heartland expects its underlying performance to continue to improve.