Westpac lifts half-yearly cash earnings to $3.9 billion

Westpac has announced an under expected first-half profit of $3.9 billion – a slight increase of 3 per cent after experiencing a lift in bad loans in its institutional lending arm.

The bank will pay an interim dividend of 94c a share, which is up from 93c a year ago and flat compared with the last six months.

Westpac’s Chief executive Brian Hartzer called the results adequate in a “volatile economic environment”, following constricted regulatory measures enforced for banks last year.

Other banks are set to announce their results in the coming days – with ANZ on Tuesday, NAB on Thursday and CBA next Monday.

With AAP.