I believe the valuation of HNZ must ultimately be dependent on supply and demand for its lending services.
The best interest rate link from the sharechat website puts me through to:
http://www.depositrates.co.nz/
Heartland has a call rate of 3.75%, a 90 day rate of 4.5% and a 12 month rate of 5%. These are of course leading rates that apply to new term deposits and those that are rolling over. Customers can get higher call rates at BNZ and ANZ/National. Heartland are higher than the best of the big banks (Westpac by 0.5%) on a 3 month term. Heartland are 0.5% higher than the best of the big banks (BNZ) on a 12 month term.
I am not convinced that I would put my hard eaned deposit money with Heartland for only a 0.5% premium, given its much lower credit rating. I do not believe that Heartland is yet demonstrating the growth in demand for its services is there to sustain firstly a higher profit and as a result a higher share price.
SNOOPY