Commonwealth Bank has beaten analyst expectations with a full-year cash profit of $9.88bn in a week in which it is still reeling from allegations around money laundering.
The result was a 4.6% improvement on 2016 and, as expected, represented an eighth straight record for Australia’s largest bank.
The bank is also facing a lawsuit from shareholders, who will have a chance to question management at an investors meeting on Wednesday morning, for what they say is a failure to properly disclose the risks to the business posed by climate change.
“Commonwealth Bank’s performance this year has again contributed to the financial wellbeing of our customers, shareholders, our people and the Australian economy,” the bank’s chief executive, Ian Narev, said. “This is the result of our consistent focus on customer satisfaction, innovation and financial strength.”
Analysts had expected a 12-month cash profit of about $9.8bn.
Narev, who had his short-term bonus slashed on Tuesday, will be forced to appear at the next round of bank hearings in Canberra to answer questions about claims of “serious and systemic” violations of laws to combat funding for terrorism and crime syndicates.
Regulator Austrac – the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre – alleges CBA failed to provide on-time reports for more than 53,500 cash transactions of $10,000 or more through its Intelligent Deposit Machines between November 2012 and September 2015.
“The board notes that it has no reason to believe that the allegations arose from deliberate or unethical behaviour, or any commercial motive,” the CBA chair, Catherine Livingstone, said on Wednesday.
CBA, which has blamed a coding error, said a sub-committee of four directors would oversee the bank’s response to the civil proceedings launched by Austrac in the federal court.
Australian Associated Press contributed to this report
