Bendigo and Adelaide Bank has announced a 9.4 per cent increase of $500.4 million in cash earnings in its full-year, 2022 financial results; the first time it has passed the $500 million mark in its history.
The bank confirmed the news on Monday (15 August), also reporting statutory net profit after tax fell by 6.9 per cent to $488.1 million "due to unrealised property revaluations in the Homesafe portfolio" and a total fully franked dividend of $0.53 per share (up 6 per cent).
Total income for the year increased slightly to $1.7 billion and operating expenses fell by 1.1 per cent to $1.01 billion.
Bendigo and Adelaide Bank CEO and managing director Marnie Baker said the results demonstrate that its strategy is working.
"We have reduced costs and improved our cost to income ratio while maintaining a strong balance sheet and preserving our credit quality," Ms Baker said.
Moving forward, Ms Baker conceded that the bank must improve its overall returns and that the team is focused on "driving the right outcomes and behaviours".
"What we hoped was going to be a relatively smooth economic landing out of COVID has got a little bumpy, as we face into growing inflationary pressures, a tight job market, rising wages and general global uncertainty.
"Cash rate increases from the Reserve Bank are beginning to have an impact on property values in some markets and we can expect credit growth to moderate and competition to remain intense."
Bendigo and Adelaide Bank will look to keep costs flat and investment spend to remain at current levels until FY24, when it will then reportedly decline.
Ms Baker added that the bank is determined to respond to the conditions and meet the needs of its customers.
"We will have a tighter focus on factors within our control such as our cost base and our continued judicious use of shareholder capital," she said.
"Our focus on these areas has never been clearer, and our strategic imperatives never more important. We remain, as we have always been, a bank with heart and heritage, and we are united in our purpose of feeding into the prosperity of the community and not off it."
Neil Griffiths
Neil is the Deputy Editor of the wealth titles, including ifa and InvestorDaily.
Neil is also the host of the ifa show podcast.
