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Westpac Banking Corporation (ASX:WBC) has reported a flat first half profit result on the back of one-off costs.
Earnings for the first 6 months of the financial year came in at $3.77 billion dollars compared to $3.7 billion for the same period last year. An $85 million charge relating to derivative valuations as well as a weak performance in its treasury area contributed to the lower than expected result.
Core retail banking was up 8 per cent while cash earnings were up 2 per cent. New CEO Brian Hartzer says he is positive about the outlook for the economy which he says is in transition with uneven growth across different industry sectors.
Mr Hartzer also said housing lending was growing faster than business lending and that he expected the proportion of bad loans to remain low fuelling high competition in the marketplace.
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