News: NAB UPDATE 1-Australia's CBA fiscal year profit up 4.6 pct, beats forecast

(Adds net interest income, loan impairment expenses)

Aug 9 (Reuters) - Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) said on Wednesday its fiscal year profit rose 4.6 percent, beating expectations, helped by growth in its home lending arm and as expenses related to bad debts fell.

Australia's second-biggest lender said cash profit for the 12 months to June 30 was A$9.88 billion ($7.82 billion), up from A$9.45 billion a year ago.

The result beat analysts' average forecast of A$9.83 billion, according to 15 respondents polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Net interest income, the difference between interest earned and paid out, was up 4 percent at A$17.60 billion.

Loan impairment expense (LIE) decreased about 13 percent due to lower loan loss provisioning in certain businesses like institutional and private banking.

The bank said corporate operating expenses rose 20 percent from the previous fiscal year to A$921 million, driven by higher technology costs and spending initiatives related to safeguarding information, common reporting requirements and anti-money laundering.

The biggest of the "Big Four" Australian banks released its results days after a regulator accused it of thousands of breaches of money-laundering laws, wiping billions of dollars from its market value.

The bank has blamed a software error for most of the breaches, some of which allegedly involved drug syndicates and terror financiers. It could face billions of dollars in fines if found guilty.

The case has increased pressure on the government to support a powerful judicial inquiry into the major banks, which have been hit by a series of scandals including rate rigging and insurance fraud.

CBA did not provide any update on the AUSTRAC allegations in its financial results statement, saying the outcome of the matter will be determined in court. "At this time it is not possible to reliably estimate the possible financial effect on the group," it said in a statement.

The banks also face pressure from regulators to slow lending to property investors amid fears of a debt-fuelled property bubble. Mortgages are a key source of profit for the Big Four, which dominate the Australian housing market.

On the tax front, the four biggest banks - Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ANZ), CommBank, National Australia Bank Ltd (NAB) and Westpac Banking Corp (WBC), plus top investment bank Macquarie Group Ltd (MQG) - were slugged with a six basis-point levy on deposits in the May federal budget.

CBA declared a fully-franked final dividend of A$2.30 per share, up from A$2.22 a share a year ago. ($1 = 1.2642 Australian dollars)