National Australia Bank (NAB) has made what it describes as a solid start to 2017 in its first quarter trading update to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) revealing unaudited cash earnings of approximately $1.6 billion.
It said these earnings were around one per cent lower than the quarterly average of the September 2016 half year result and the prior corresponding period.
The announcement said expenses rose approximately five per cent with the key drivers including higher personnel costs mainly related to the timing of the 1 October 2016 Enterprise Bargaining Agreement salary increases and redundancies, combined with higher project related costs including regulatory spend, and increased depreciation and amortisation.
Commenting on update, NAB chief executive, Andrew Thorburn described it as a solid start to 2017.
He said the bank had taken a disciplined approach to reshaping its business, balancing higher levels of investment with tight cost management
“Our first quarter expenses were impacted by the usual 1 October salary increases as well as elevated redundancy costs,” Horburn said.
“Our full-time equivalent (FTE) levels reduced by 488 in the quarter and for this full year we remain on track to deliver more than $200 million in productivity savings.
