Westpac under pressure on turnaround promise

James Frost and James Eyers

Updated Nov 1, 2021 – 5.37pm, first published at 5.35pm

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Westpac Banking Corp’s shareholders carved $7 billion off the big bank’s market value on Monday after a substandard full-year result marred by shrinking margins, falling revenue and a whopping $460 million rise in costs over the second half year.

Cash profit more than doubled over the full year to $5.35 billion, but still fell short of expectations, and was propped up by a $3.8 billion swing in provisions after pandemic losses failed to materialise and the bank clawed back some of the buffers added last year.

James Frost writes about banking, funds management and superannuation. Based in Melbourne, James has been reporting on specialist business and finance topics for 15 years.

James Eyers writes on banking, payments and fintech. He is a former legal and investment banking editor at the AFR, has degrees in commerce and law from UNSW, and is co-author of Buy now, pay later: The extraordinary story of Afterpay