SYDNEY: Westpac Banking Corp’s half-year profit climbed as a continued recovery in the nation’s economy drove a further reduction in pandemic loan-loss provisions at Australia’s second-largest lender.
Cash earnings rose to A$3.5bil (US$2.7bil or RM11bil) in the six months through March 31, compared with A$993mil in the same period a year earlier, the Sydney-based bank said in a statement yesterday. ‘
That beat the A$3.4bil average estimate of three analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
The firm will pay a 58 Australian cent interim dividend.
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