Ross Smith, Chief Executive of SBS Bank in the annual meeting held in Invercargill last night, highlighted that the bank is yet to witness its euphoria in the coming year.

The Chief Executive said that the coming year would be as challenging as the previous one. However, added, “But a positive for SBS Bank has been that our transition to banking status has further enhanced our position in the marketplace".

Previous days, spoke about SBS to be in merger talks with Hawkes Bay-based HBS, a mutually owned building society.

However, the SBS Board had already granted its nod for the merger with the smaller HBS (with branches in Napier and Hastings), but, HBS members are due to cast their vote on the merger deal on August 31.

The label HBS would remain in existence in the meantime, Smith uncovered. He further added that it is likely that the HBS and the SBS label might eventually witness their replacement by a new brand name for the region.

New Zealand witnessed itself out of the troubling waters of recession during the past 12 months, however, the economy posed a big challenge for the financial sector as a whole, Mr. Smith posted.