While Westpac’s profit result underwhelmed investors, the report showed early signs customers were facing less intense cost-of-living difficulties. Photograph: Hollie Adams/ReutersView image in fullscreenWhile Westpac’s profit result underwhelmed investors, the report showed early signs customers were facing less intense cost-of-living difficulties. Photograph: Hollie Adams/ReutersWestpacWestpac CEO believes Australia now pulling out of cost of-living crisis Anthony Miller says worst of inflation-induced pressure on borrowers is easing, while framing Labor re-election an ‘enormous positive’
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Luca IttimaniMon 5 May 2025 05.34 BSTShareWestpac’s chief executive believes Australia may be recovering from the depths of the cost-of-living crisis and has hailed the re-election of the Albanese government as an “enormous positive” for the country.Anthony Miller said on Monday the worst of the inflation-induced pressure on borrowers was easing, as the share of customers falling behind on repayments fell.“We may have passed the low point in the cycle,” he said.But the likelihood of an Australian recession has risen from 42.5% to 45%, Westpac predicted, as international markets stay on edge amid Donald Trump’s trade conflict.Westpac posted a 1% drop in net profit for the six months ended March to $3.3bn, according to half-year results released on Monday.While the profit result underwhelmed investors, sending the bank’s share price down by more than 3% in early afternoon trading, the report showed early signs customers were facing less intense cost-of-living difficulties.Trump tariffs deal hammer blow to some Australian businesses but others seize ‘enormous’ chanceRead moreThe share of Westpac customers behind on repayments fell from its 1.45% peak to 1.36% over the six months to March, returning to levels reached a year ago.Just 0.86% of the lender’s Australian mortgage borrowers were more than 90 days behind on repayments, from 1.12% six months ago, while 90-day repayment delays on other consumer loans also fell.The ease in cost-of-living pressures signalled by the major bank’s results was also evident in the federal election, with Labor re-elected after arguing that the economy had “turned the corner”.Miller said the government’s re-election provided stability to Australia against an uncertain global economic outlook.“That certainty that the Labor party has provided over the last couple of years in government and now re-elected is an incredibly powerful outcome and a very positive one for the country,” he told investors and media on Monday.skip past newsletter promotionSign up to Afternoon Update: Election 2025Free daily newsletterOur Australian afternoon update breaks down the key election campaign stories of the day, telling you what’s happening and why it mattersEnter your email address Sign upPrivacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.after newsletter promotion“Getting things done methodically, as opposed to boldly going in different and new directions, is something to be thoughtful about.”
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Household and business spending are expected to take over from government activity to drive stronger economic growth as the share of borrowers behind on debt shrinks, the bank’s half-yearly report showed.While lower rates of stressed or impaired debt would have meant Westpac could provision less money to cover potential losses, Miller said shocks and volatility in other countries made global borrowing riskier.The bank’s chief financial officer, Michael Rowland, said: “We’ve got a lot of global uncertainty, and we’ve increased the downside [likelihood] to cope with that [but] all the forward-looking economic indicators [are] not telling us we’re going to have a downturn in the future.”Explore more on these topicsWestpacCost of living crisisAustralian election 2025Australian politicsBanking Australian economynewsShareReuse this content
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