SYDNEY: Australia's Commonwealth Bank (CBA) reported a 10.8 percent drop in cash profits Wednesday, blaming the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic and record low interest rates.
The country's largest lender said its statutory net profit after tax fell 20.8 percent to Aus$4.87 billion (US$3.76 billion), largely due to the one-off gain of a sale the previous year.
Cash profits - the bank's preferred measure - slid 10.8 percent to Aus$3.88 billion due in part to the impact of Covid-19, including the cost of bad loans and provisions for future defaults.
The country's central bank has also slashed the cash rate to 0.10 percent and embarked on a massive quantitative easing programme to stimulate the economy, suppressing mortgage interest rates.
CBA announced a final dividend of Aus$1.50 per share, up more than half from the 98 cents paid out after its full-year results last August but still down 25 percent from pre-pandemic levels. Chief executive officer Matt Comyn said Australia was starting to see a turnaround in economic conditions but some cause for caution remained.
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