Australian banking group Westpac has posted net profit of AUD7.99bn ($6.1bn) for the year ended September 2017, a 7% increase compared to AUD7.44bn ($5.7bn) in the previous year.
Annual cash profit stood at AUD8.06bn, up 3% from AUD7.82bn a year ago.
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On a reported basis, net interest income rose 2% to AUD15.51bn while non-interest income increased 8% year-on-year to AUD6.28bn.
Operating expenses increased 2% year-on-year to AUD9.43bn and impairment charges slumped 24% to AUD853m.
The bank’s common equity Tier 1 capital ratio stood at 10.56% as against 9.48% a year ago.
BT Financial Group, the wealth management arm of the bank, reported cash earnings of AUD771m for the year ended 30 September 2017, down 11% compared with AUD868m a year ago.
Compared to the previous year, the unit’s net interest income increased 10% to AUD537m while non-interest income dropped 9% to AUD1.74bn. Operating expenses of the division dipped 1% year-on-year to AUD1.17bn.
Westpac CEO Brian Hartzer said: “This is another solid result. We have continued to successfully navigate a challenging environment while our strategy builds momentum. Our primary goal in 2017 was to carefully balance growth and returns, while meeting all of our new macro-prudential regulatory requirements. We achieved the required macro-prudential targets for home lending. The credit quality of our loan portfolio is in great shape with stressed assets reducing during the year.”
