Commonwealth Bank of Australia has reported a marginal rise in first-quarter profit, with the benefits of resilient lending and credit volumes offset by rising technology-related costs.
The bank said unaudited cash net profit after tax was $2.6 billion for the quarter ended September 30, slightly higher than $2.5 billion last year.
Operating income was up 3%, driven by lending and deposit volume growth, higher non-interest income and 1.5 additional days in the quarter.
For the quarter, home loans grew $9.3 billion , or 1.1 times the system average, while while household deposits grew by $17.8 billion, or 1.2 times system.
Home loan arrears decreased over the quarter to 0.66% (-4bpts).
CBA said headline net interest margin has reduced due to the mix effects of strong growth in lower yielding liquid assets and institutional repository.
The bank added that operating expenses excluding restructuring and notable items increased by 4% mainly driven by wage and IT vendor inflation and 1.5 additional days in the quarter, offset by seasonally lower IT vendor spend and the benefit of ongoing productivity initiatives.