Westpac a $1 billion baby
Cash earnings, the preferred measure of the Australian-owned banks, rose 5 percent to $1.0 billion in the 12 months to Sept 30, the Sydney-based lender said in a statement. Home loans and business lending both grew 4 percent over the past year, supported by customer deposit growth of 6 percent.
The result coincides with today's release of a 'culture and conduct' report on the country's major banks, conducted jointly by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand and the Financial Markets Authority following revelations of unethical and potentially criminal practices to the Australian royal commission of inquiry into banking misconduct.
The local Westpac unit reported that net interest margin widened 12 basis points to 2.15 percent. Operating expenses fell 3 percent to $936 million while its net interest income lifted 8 percent to $1.87 billion.
It reported impairment expenses of $3 million, compared with net impairment benefit of $76 million in the prior comparative period The low levels of impairment expenses reflected the net impact of stable asset quality and recoveries across the dairy portfolio, it said.
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