Australia’s largest retail bank posts surge in profits

Canberra, Aug 10 (IANS) The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), the country’s largest retail bank, posted a cash net profit after tax of A$9.595 billion ($6 billion) in its end of financial year results released on Wednesday.The 11 per cent jump in profits has represented the bank’s best year in net terms since 2017, when the bank posted over A$9.881 billion in profits, reports Xinhua news agency. It also showed a recovery from the pandemic as profits slumped across 2020 and 2021.The bank’s margins were predominated by a jump in business and mortgage lending which grew by 13.6 per cent and 7.4 per cent, respectively.CBA CEO Matt Comyn said the results reflected operational improvements to the bank despite the ongoing challenging economic environment.”We have focused on strengthening our relationships with our customers, which resulted in further growth in our deposit and lending volumes to household and business customers,” Comyn said.Commenting on the outlook of the national economy, he said households and businesses were well positioned but the high inflation and a rapidly increasing cash rate have brought some impacts.–IANSksk/