The sale of units hurt Australia’s Westpac by $824 million in the second half of the year.
Australia’s Westpac Banking (NYSE:WBK) Corp warned on Monday that its second-half reported net profit and cash earnings will be cut by A$1.3 billion ($824 million) after taxes. One reason was a loss on the sale of its life insurance business.
Westpac, the country’s third-largest bank, said that the one-time charge will have a net positive effect of 12 basis points (bps) on its common equity tier 1 capital ratio because the unit sale added 17 bps.
The bank said it expects the sale of its Australian life insurance business to Japan’s Dai-ichi Life Holdings, which was announced in August of last year, to result in a loss of A$1.1 billion. The one-time charge will also go up because of other costs, write-downs, and an increase in provisions.
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Westpac will share the results of its fiscal year 2022 on November 7. National Australia Bank (OTC:NABZY) and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, which are competitors, will release their annual results on November 9 and October 27, respectively.
In Australia, $1 equals $1.58.
