Westpac has joined its peers in leaving dividends unchanged for the year to September 30 after reporting a 3% rise in cash earnings for the year to $8.062 billion.
The bank said Monday morning that the result was struck on a 4% rise in revenue for the year to more than $21 billion.
Final dividend was left unchanged at 94 cents a share, making a total for 2016-17 of $1.88, also unchanged.
Westpac results follows a cash profit of $9.9 billion from the Commonwealth and $6.9 billion from the ANZ and $6.6 billion from the NAB. All banks maintained their dividends at their 2015-16 levels.
Westpac said its main capital ratio at September 30 was 10.6%, just above the 10.5% demanded by bak regulators
Westpac Group CEO, Mr Brian Hartzer said in the bank’s release on Monday: “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,” he added.
He revealed that Westpac had been going through its customer accounts and products to find out if there were any problems with fees and charges – there were and more than $100 million has been found to be due to customers.
“As part of our ‘get it right, put it right’ program we’ve been reviewing our products and services and the way we have engaged with our customers. Where we have found issues that we need to put right, we ensure that no customer has been disadvantaged from those past practices,” he explained.
"For example, a review into our superannuation disclosure is resulting in payments to some customers with pre-existing conditions who did not have the benefit of our improved disclosure practices and who previously had their claims denied. We are also refunding customers who were entitled to certain product discounts, but may not have been aware that they needed to specifically request them.
"The cash earnings impact of these changes was $118 million this year, equivalent to 1.5% of earnings,” Mr Hartzer said.
Westpac’s net interest income was up 2% during the year, a sign of the softer revenue backdrop facing the banks. The bank’s net interest margin fell to 2.09% from 2.13% in 2015-16.
However, the bottom line was helped by a 24% fall in its charges for bad and doubtful debts, while it kept operating cost growth to a tight 2%.
