CANBERRA: National Australia Bank has doubled down on its commitment to keep slashing costs, with a jump in expenses during the December quarter further highlighting the sector’s growth challenge. The bank reported cash earnings of $1.6 billion in the December quarter, 1 per cent lower than the prior corresponding period. Revenue increased just 1 per cent during the period in an operating environment NAB described as having “some challenges”.
The weaker earnings result has been sheeted back to a 5 per cent increase in expenses flowing from salary increases, redundancies, compliance and project costs. NAB chief executive Andrew Thorburn described the result as a “solid start” to the year, highlighting the bank’s higher revenue, strong capital position and asset quality as evidence of its continued turnaround.
