Westpac says customers are proving resilient despite lingering economic uncertainty as CEO Anthony Miller hands down the bank’s full year result.

Miller has reported a $7 billion cash profit, down two per cent on the prior year, with a final shareholder dividend of 77 cents per share.

It’s Miller’s first full year result since taking over as CEO last December, and the first to be delivered by new CFO Nathan Goonan.

“This has been a solid year at Westpac and I’m pleased with the result we are delivering today”, Miller said.

“We’ve managed margins in a competitive environment and our capital position is strong, providing us with plenty of flexibility as we execute our strategy.”

Westpac reported a CET1 level 2 capital ratio of 12.5 per cent and Miller says the bank’s strong balance sheet is foundational to its future success.

“The opportunity to deliver more for our customers, people and shareholders is exciting. We’re focused on relentless execution of our strategy and delivering every day for our customers.”

It's been a year of change at the major bank, with new executives taking over key divisions, with Carolyn McCann in Consumer and Paul Fowler in Business & Wealth joining Institutional head Nell Hutton, now in her third year in the role. Goonan took over as CFO on October 8 with the departure of Michael Rowland.

The bank reported a 7 per cent increase in deposits and 6 per cent in loans. In Consumer and Institutional, deposits increased 10 per cent. Lending in business grew 15 per cent and Institutional lending rose 17 per cent.

Westpac’s CEO highlights the growth in agribusiness of 22 per cent as a key hallmark of his strategy to win more business from existing customers.

"One of the highlights of the year for me was opening our new service centre in Moree. We haven’t always got our regional banking strategy right in the past, so this is about resetting how we best serve customers outside capital cities.”

Amid ongoing competition in the mortgage market, Westpac reported a Net Interest Margin of 1.94% (excluding Notable items), down one basis point on FY24. Over the last half the margin has increased by three basis points. Expenses were up 6 per cent, excluding a one-off restructuring charge for recent changes at the bank.

The increase in costs was attributed to the ongoing UNITE transformation program and investment in hiring more customer-facing bankers across key divisions.

Westpac also today announced it had entered into an agreement for the sale of the RAMS mortgage portfolio.

RAMS was closed to new business in August last year, and Miller says the sale of the $21 billion dollar book will “significantly streamline Westpac’s mortgage operations, reduce run costs across the business and provide further strategic flexibility”.

After three cuts to the official cash rate this year, Westpac’s impairments have fallen, with credit quality across the bank in good shape.

“The majority of our customers have welcomed interest rate relief over the past year and this is helping fuel a modest recovery in private demand. For businesses, we’ve seen improving conditions but continue to observe challenges for small business across materials, labour and  energy costs.”

“Notwithstanding the relief from interest rates, challenges remain with inflation and unemployment increasing in recent months. This will be a delicate balance for the RBA to manage.”

Despite the challenges, Miller says he’s optimistic about the overall state of the Australian economy.

“Globally, uncertainty remains but this is an opportunity for Australia and we are in a good position to work through any impacts from events such as the ongoing geopolitical and trade tensions”, he said.

“Our stability and reliability remain differentiators in the current environment.”