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SYDNEY, Feb 16 (Reuters) - National Australia Bank Ltd posted a pickup in quarterly profit from the previous two quarters on Tuesday as it wound back pandemic-driven bad loan provision charges, and pointed to encouraging signs on the economy.
The country’s No.2 lender by market value reported cash earnings of A$1.65 billion ($1.28 billion) for the three months ended Dec. 31. The result was flat on a year ago but a 47% improvement to the average quarterly result in the previous half, the bank said in a limited quarterly earnings update.
“Improving economic and health outcomes in Australia and New Zealand are encouraging,” Chief Executive Ross McEwan said in a statement.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) yesterday reported a 10.8 percent drop in cash profits, blaming the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic and record low interest rates.
The country’s largest lender said that its statutory net profit fell 20.8 percent to A$4.87 billion (US$3.76 billion), largely due to the one-off gain of a sale in 2019.
Cash profits the bank’s preferred measure slid 10.8 percent to A$3.88 billion due in part to the impact of COVID-19, including the cost of bad loans and provisions for future defaults.
The Australian central bank has also slashed the cash rate to 0.10 percent and