In an announcement to the market on Wednesday, Commonwealth Bank reported a statutory net profit after tax of $4.9 billion for the first half of 2021, down 20.8 per cent on the prior corresponding period.
The major bank said the result was due mainly to “lower gains realised on the sale of businesses”.
Chief executive Matt Comyn said CBA was still delivering “consistently good performance notwithstanding the current environment”.
He said the bank was progressing well with its strategy to divest wealth management and improve risk management controls.
“This is an evolutionary change to enable the bank to focus on the new challenges and opportunities ahead,” Mr Comyn said.
The bank had seen modest growth of $4 billion in its business lending division over the half, with $13 billion volume growth in home lending and $23 billion in household deposits.
Cash net profits after tax in its retail banking division were $2.2 billion, an improvement from the bank’s performance in the second half of FY20 but down on the prior corresponding period’s result of $2.3 billion.
In business and private banking, CBA reported a $1.3 billion cash net profit after tax, again an improvement on the second half of FY20’s result of $1.1 billion, but down on the $1.4 billion result in the first half of 2020.
Mr Comyn said the bank was “prepared for a range of scenarios” as economic risks from the pandemic remained.
