Westpac Bank has followed its banking cousins ANZ and St George with its own record profit announcement today, leaving NAB as the likely party pooper later in the week when it is expected to announce its first fall in net profit since 2001.
Westpac delivered a record operating profit after tax of $2.6 billion for the year ending September, with all the group’s business units reportedly performing strongly.
The bank’s Australian Business and Consumer Banking arm experienced a $195 million rise in operating profit to $1.29 billion largely on the back of a 15 per cent increase in business lending and a growth in mortgage outstandings by 12 per cent.
Meanwhile BT Financial Group in Australia improved on its $109 million operating profit of last year, with a jump to $135 million for the year ending September 30.
Westpac chief executive David Morgan said the result was “outstanding” and that while the group will face a challenging operating environment this fiscal year, it is well placed to match this year’s performance.
“We have been able to deliver superior and sustainable returns to our shareholders while at the same time further developing Westpac’s capabilities and maximizing our growth potential…[And] we are confident that we can continue to deliver strong results at the upper end of the sector for our shareholders in 2005,” Morgan said.
BT experienced a significant rise in funds under administration (FUA) – up from 12.9 billion to $17.3 billion and was largely driven by a 44 per cent rise in FUA in its wrap product to $13.8 billion.
However its funds under management figures experienced a more modest rise in terms of overall growth with the firm’s aggregate sum of assets managed rising from $40.5 billion to $43.5 billion.
In New Zealand the bank’s wealth management business unit performed strongly with an $80 million increase due to volume growth across all portfolios. In addition, house lending was up 17 per cent, as was business lending (12 per cent) with deposits rising 8 per cent.
