(7 May 2010 – Australia) The National Australia Bank’s first half profit fell after reductions in fees and lower interest rate rises than its rivals caused a 22 percent decline in statutory interim net profit.NAB says its statutory profit was down 21.6 percent at $2.1 billion, ‘largely due to accounting volatility’ related to various financial instruments.
However, it reported cash earnings of $2.2 billion, which was 8.2 percent higher than the same time last year, and 20.9 percent higher than the half year ended in September 2009.
A fall in bad debt charges to $1.2 billion from $1.8 billion a year earlier was better than market expectations.