(Reuters) -Commonwealth Bank of Australia acknowledged on Wednesday its first-quarter cash earnings remained largely flat, but flagged that cut-throat lending competition and rising prices own been inflicting volatility in margins.

Despite deposit tag competition and non permanent volatility from preparing to repay a substantial mortgage from the Reserve Bank of Australia in the 2d half, CBA clocked improved momentum in volumes across dwelling lending and household deposits.

CBA, which holds a quarter of the country’s A$2.2 trillion ($1.46 trillion) mortgage market, logged well-liked equity tier 1 ratio, a measure of spare cash, of 11.8% as at September-quit.

The country’s most attention-grabbing lender acknowledged its cash web profit after tax was A$2.50 billion ($1.63 billion) for the quarter ended Sept. 30, when in contrast with A$2.50 billion a year earlier. That compares to a Visible Alpha consensus estimate of A$2.forty eight billion, as per Citi.

Prices went up by 3% for the length of the quarter, mainly as a result of greater wages, more spending on enhancements, and one extra day in the quarter, CBA acknowledged.

($1=1.5307 Australian dollars)