(Reuters) - Bank of Queensland Ltd expects a challenging second half of the year as the Australian lender said on Monday it anticipated cash earnings in the current half to be lower than those of a year ago.
Adding to the challenging climate, the retail bank predicted a rise in regulatory costs stemming from a year-long misconduct inquiry into the financial sector that revealed widespread wrongdoing.
BOQ said its cash earnings in the first half were expected to be between A$165 million to A$170 million, lower than the A$182 million it reported a year ago.
The Brisbane-based lender said the fall in first-half income was due to an expected A$8 million to A$10 million decline in non-interest income from a year ago.
Net interest income is likely to be broadly in line, however, with the A$475 million posted in the first half of last year, the lender said in a statement.
It added that its common equity tier-one ratio would be above the 9.1 percent it reported in its November quarter Pillar 3 disclosure. At the end of last month, BOQ forecast its ratio between a range of 8.25 percent to 9.5 percent.
BOQ is scheduled to report half-year earnings on April 11.
(Reporting by Nikhil Kurian Nainan in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Cooney)
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