By Sameer Manekar

(Reuters) -Australian lender ANZ Neighborhood reported decrease-than-anticipated annual cash earnings and slashed its dividends on Friday as a “no longer easy” duration of intense deposit and lending competition and high bills crimped its margins.

“Competition in the (core banking) sector has persevered to be intense, particularly in home lending and deposits,” ANZ Chief Govt Shayne Elliott acknowledged.

Australian banks have been struggling to grow their profits on story of of stubbornly high bills and a fierce tag competition between lenders as customers take a seat up for higher deals on loans and their deposits.

The nation’s fourth-biggest lender by market payment reported a cash revenue of A$6.73 billion ($4.49 billion) for the year ended Sept. 30, lacking the Viewed Alpha consensus of A$6.82 billion and below final year’s A$7.41 billion.

ANZ proposed a final dividend of 83 Australian cents apiece, below 94 Australian cents apiece handed out final year. It became, nonetheless, fixed with market expectations.

Earn hobby margin, a key measure of profitability, fell 13 foundation sides from final year to 1.57%. Weird and wonderful equity tier 1 ratio, a measure of spare cash, slipped extra than a share existing 12.2% as of the head of the monetary year.

“Better hobby charges are impacting customers and we saw an lengthen in those requiring hardship reinforce,” Elliott acknowledged.

Mortgage payments slack for extra than 90 days but no longer but impaired grew by 47% to A$4.17 billion. Buyer deposits grew by 11% to A$715.21 billion, even supposing the Institutional division saw a marginal fall in its deposits.

Earlier in the week, higher competitors Westpac and Nationwide Australia Bank (OTC:) moreover reported runt tumble in their annual cash profits because of fierce competition as properly as a runt uptick in slack mortgage payments.

($1=1.4972 Australian dollars)