(Reuters) -Australian wealth manager AMP Ltd said on Thursday its half-year profit fell by nearly a quarter as margin pressure weighed on the performance of its banking division.
Net interest margin at AMP Bank fell to 1.32% in the first half of the fiscal year, from 1.62% a year earlier, dragged down by growth in fixed-rate loans – which are less profitable.
Margins, however, started to recover thanks to interest rate hikes from the Reserve Bank of Australia, the company said.
AMP has been trying to repair its reputation since 2018 when a public financial sector inquiry exposed systemic wrongdoing at the company, including charging customers for services it did not provide and misleading regulators.
For the six months ended June 30, the 173-year-old company reported an underlying net profit after tax (NPAT) of A$117 million, compared with A$155 million a year ago.
AMP Bank’s underlying NPAT fell 45.2% to A$46 million ($32.57 million), while net cash outflows from the firm’s flagship fund management arm eased to A$2.7 billion, from A$4 billion a year earlier.
($1 = 1.4122 Australian dollars)
(Reporting by Tejaswi Marthi and Roushni Nair in Bengluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri and Aditya Soni)