CBA said its NIM was “stable” without offering further details, which would put the banking titan ahead of its competition.
While Westpac, NAB, ANZ and Macquarie’s Australian retail segment reported continued growth in lending volumes and deposit inflows last week, they also reported tighter NIMs across the board, signalling an increasingly competitive mortgage landscape.
Where CBA has followed the competition though, is in loan impairment expenses, which rose to $223 million, a 39% increase compared to the average quarterly expense in the first half of the year.
This was driven by a five-basis-point increase in home loan arrears and a 19-basis-point increase in personal loan arrears.
Combined with last week’s bevvy of big bank earnings, it paints a picture of heightened mortgage stress in Australia and sharp competition in the mortgage lending market.