It was an uncharacteristically lugubrious Brian Hartzer who stood before analysts and investors on Monday to explain Westpac's full year 2019 result which in his words was 'below the standards we expect'.
That wasn't the only negative milestone. The 17 per cent slump in earnings per share was the largest Westpac has delivered since the 2009 during the height of the GFC. Some of the items that led to the 15 percent fall in cash earnings in 2019 had already been flagged as they related to the costs of compensation and remediation from misconduct highlighted in last year's royal commission.
Demands that lenders collect greater detail of borrowers expenses when applying for mortgages has caused problems. For Westpac bringing in new Household Expenditure Measurement tables disrupted loan applications. They have since fixed the problem but it will take time to recover lost ground.Hartzer predicts it will take a year before Westpac begins to grow mortgages in line with the broader market.
He has upped his cost cutting , but costs that are outside his control keep going up. Expenses are expected to be up 1 per cent in 2020. Meanwhile Westpac's move to bolster its capital with a $2.5 billion equity raising is further evidence that it needs a buffer to deal with changing regulatory requirements and have something in the tank to deal with the sleeper issue of a potential fine from Austrac.
EKnightOfficial Karma , your bank was built on mining if you remember your history Bank of New South Wales , Go Woke Go Broke
EKnightOfficial I’m sure he suffered terribly.