SYDNEY – Australia’s Westpac bank suffered a 66 percent plunge in net profits in fiscal 2020, hammered by the coronavirus economic downturn and a record fine for breaches of money-laundering laws, it said Monday.
“2020 has been a particularly challenging year and our financial result is disappointing,” Westpac CEO Peter King said in releasing the results for the year ending June 30.
The bank reported statutory net profit of Aus$2.29 billion (US$1.6 billion), down 66 percent from the previous year, and cash earnings of Aus$2.6 billion (US$1.8 billion), down 62 percent.
King said the bank’s earnings had been “significantly…