(6 February 2018 – Australia) Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has recorded a drop in first-half cash profit, impacted by A$575 million in regulatory fines accrued from anti-money laundering lawsuit.
The bank reported this week a two percent fall in cash profit for the six months ended December 31 to A$4.74 billion from the same year-ago period.
CBA’s departing CEO, Ian Narev said, “We recognise, and regret, that these costs arise from our failure to meet some standards that we should have.”
Narev added that the costs were unlikely to be a one-off expense, and said he expected the bank’s profits, and the entire industry, to be affected by regulatory charges “for a while, in one shape or form”.
CBA’s net interest margin rose six basis points to 2.16 percent during the period.
Impairment charges were 20 percent higher from the previous half to A$596 million, mainly driven bad loans in its institutional arm.