NAB and its customers are benefitting from the consistent execution of its strategy over several years, NAB CEO Ross McEwan says.
Releasing NAB’s 2023 Full Year Results to the market, Mr McEwan said: “The steady, solid progress of NAB over a number of years now and our determination to get the basics right and be a good bank is seen in our results today.
“NAB is focused on delivering better outcomes for our customers and colleagues – regardless of the environment – and this is serving our customers and our bank well.”
NAB’s cash earnings were up 8.8% to $7.731 billion, while the Group Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) ratio increased 71 basis points year-on-year to 12.22%.
A final dividend of 84cps was declared, taking full year dividends to $1.67. This equates to $5.2bn being delivered to shareholders, many of them retail shareholders including Australian mums and dads and retirees.
The ASX statement and investor presentation can be found on NAB’s Financial Results page.
“All our businesses have played their part. In particular our leading Business franchise has continued to grow. This is a great franchise, with great customers and bankers, and we’re determined to keep investing in it to make even better,” Mr McEwan said.
Mr McEwan added that the environment became more challenging in the second half and was likely to remain so in the near-term.
“We saw the impact of higher interest rates in our first half performance. However our results softened in the second six months amid intense competition as customers seek the best deal. This is all leading to some of the thinnest mortgage margins I’ve seen in my time in Australian banking.
“We also saw the broader environment get more challenging as higher rates and inflation weighed on households.
“Some customers are feeling it more than others and the RBA’s decision to again increase the official cash rate this week because of persistent inflation will increase the pressure on households.
“Our message to people struggling with the increase in cost of living is: we’re here to help – please call us early. We’ve added more bankers this year to take those calls and we will be there when customers need us most.”
Over the past year NAB has increased the size of its NAB Assist team by 120 to help support customers in greatest need, while its fraud and scams team has grown to more than 470 to better protect customers from the scams epidemic.
Since September 2020, NAB has increased the size of its team of bankers supporting business customers by 700 to 6,000.
