Bank performs well under market conditions, low growth continues

Business

WESTPAC says the low growth environment continued for business and the economy in the country.
A spokesperson told The National that Westpac PNG was happy to deliver a sound result aligned to market conditions.
“A key ongoing focus for Westpac PNG this year has been improving the banking experience for our customers,” the spokesperson said.
“A highlight was the launch of our Westpac PNG mobile app-based on the award winning Australian app – providing smart phone users a variety of self-serve banking options.
“We also invested in additional security features to help protect our customers from fraud including enhanced PIN security and two factor authentication for our corporate customers and mobile app users.”
Westpac Group chief executive officer Brian Hartzer, said 2019 had been a disappointing year.
Hartzer said financial results were down significantly in a challenging, low-growth, low interest rate environment.
Statutory net profit $6.784 billion (K15.32bn) , down 16 per cent, cash earnings $6.849 billion (K15.55bn) down 15 per cent, cash earnings per share 198.2 cents, down 16 per cent, final fully franked dividend 80 cents per share, down 15 per cent from 94 cents per share.
“Our result was impacted by customer remediation costs and the reset of our wealth business.
“Excluding these notable items, cash earnings were down 4 per cent on FY18, which was mainly due to a reduction in wealth and insurance income from the exit of our financial planning business, higher insurance claims, and the impact of regulatory changes on revenue. Importantly, 2019 has also been a watershed year where we’ve acted decisively to respond to the challenging conditions.
“We’ve progressed the implementation of a number of recommendations from the Royal Commission and our Culture, Governance and Accountability (CGA) self-assessment.”