Cash earnings for six months to March 31 will be impacted Talks...

• Cash earnings for six months to March 31 will be impacted
• Talks with customers ongoing to determine final remediation cost
• Westpac reports its interim earnings on May 6

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April 30 (Reuters) - Australia's Westpac Banking Corp (WBC) flagged a total impact of A$617 million ($434 million) to its first-half cash earnings from provisions for refunding wronged customers.

The bank said on Tuesday its six-month earnings would take a hit of A$357 million from refunding customers under its financial planning services arm, in addition to the A$260 million it had outlined in March.

Cash earnings for the six months to March 31 would be impacted and negotiations with customers are ongoing to determine the final cost of remediation, the lender said.

"While it is disappointing that we have needed to make these provisions, I said at the end of last year that our priority was to deal with any outstanding issues and process payments as quickly as possible," Westpac CEO Brian Hartzer said.

Westpac, like several other large financial institutions in Australia, are racing to repair their images in the wake of damaging revelations of misconduct in a sector-wide inquiry.

Earlier this month, National Australia Bank (NAB) flagged an additional A$749 million in charges to refund thousands of wronged customers.

Westpac reports its interim earnings on May 6. ($1 = 1.4217 Australian dollars)