The "people's bank" had performed well at a time of international financial crisis.
"We don't have to be dependent on overseas financial markets. Those markets right now look like the dog that critics claimed Kiwibank would be," he said.
Kiwibank announced a normalised after-tax profit for the year of $52.5 million, up 43% from $36.8 million in the previous corresponding period.
Chief executive Sam Knowles described the result, for the year ended June 30, as a clear indication the bank was on a strong growth path.
The profit did not include an additional $11.1 million that resulted from a structural change in the ownership of the bank by New Zealand Post.
The profit including the restructuring gain is $63.6 million.
In the past year, loans and advances increased 52%, from $5.6 billion to $8.5 billion, and retail deposits increased 39%, from $4.8 billion to $6.7 billion, Mr Knowles said.
The bank had experienced "sensational growth" in residential home loans, outperforming many of the large Australian-owned banks, particularly in the last quarter of 2008.
The credit performance of the loan portfolio remained strong, with impaired loans increasing from $4 million to $19 million over the year.
This represented 0.2% of total assets, a lower ratio than those of Kiwibank's competitors, he said.
Mr Knowles said the deposit market had been very competitive and this had put some pressure on lending rates in the last quarter of the year.
Kiwibank also announced that it was ending its links with the Mercer KiwiSaver scheme, to take effect from September 30.
Kiwibank had acted as a retail partner for Mercer, making information about the scheme available in brochures and on its website.
The nature of this role meant Kiwibank was not involved in investment decisions, he said.
"However, because we now have our own wealth management division and are considering being more actively involved in the superannuation and managed funds sector, we believe it is essential that we bring our involvement with Mercer to an end."
Mercer has about 70,000 KiwiSaver members and Mercer's New Zealand business leader, Martin Lewington, said it was business as usual for these members.
"Mercer has managed the funds of these members during our relationship with Kiwibank and we will continue to do so now it has ended," he said.
