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That pushed net profit from the bank's institutional unit up 53% to overtake its retail unit, by dollar value, in the year to September, and helped the Melbourne-listed company grow overall profit 14% to A$7.4 billion ($4.7 billion), just missing a Visible Alpha consensus forecast of A$7.56 billion. But analysts expressed concern about a faster-than-expected narrowing of profit margin from the bank's retail unit, the only one of Australia's so-called big four lenders that has persisted with offering cash handouts to lure mortgage customers looking for a cheaper deal. The logo of the ANZ Bank is seen at Lambton Quay, in Wellington, New Zealand November 10, 2022. ANZ CEO Shayne Elliott denied forgoing margin to grow mortgages faster than the market, and challenged comments from other banks that have said they were intentionally slowing mortgage growth while competition eroded profit. ANZ declared a final dividend of 94 Australian cents per share, up from 74 cents a year ago.

Persons: NIM, Lucy Craymer, Shayne Elliott, we've, Byron Kaye, Rishav Chatterjee, Roushni Nair, Lisa Shumaker, Stephen Coates Organizations: ANZ, Westpac, National Australia Bank, midsession, ANZ Bank, REUTERS, UBS, Thomson Locations: Melbourne, Lambton Quay, Wellington , New Zealand, Sydney, Bengaluru

The results show how Australia's retail banks are leaning into businesses outside their traditional earnings engine of mortgages as higher interest rates raise the cost of repayments, spurring competition which has flattened profit margins. Sydney-listed Westpac said profit from its consumer division, which has just over one-fifth of Australian mortgages, shrank 7% in its full-year to end-September. Westpac gave no profit forecasts but said April-to-September trading was "more challenging" than the previous six months and "this is expected to continue into 2024". "If that does eventuate, interest rates will probably need to be higher than what we're thinking," he said on a call with analysts and media. Westpac declared a final dividend of 72 Australian cents per share, up from 64 Australian cents a year earlier.

Persons: David Gray, Azib Khan, Peter King, We've, Byron Kaye, Roushni Nair, Upasana Singh, Andrew Heavens, Josie Kao, Aurora Ellis Organizations: Australia's Westpac Banking Corp, REUTERS, Westpac, Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank, ANZ, Sydney, midsession, P Capital, Thomson Locations: Sydney, Australia, Ukraine, Bengaluru

July 17 (Reuters) - Shares of Endeavour Group (EDV.AX), Australia's biggest pub owner, hit a record low on Monday after a surprise state government decision to impose identification checks and gambling limits on poker machine users. Victoria, Australia's second-most populous state, said at the weekend it would make poker machine users register for an ID card to prevent money laundering and set a loss limit in advance to restrict problem gambling. Analysts were divided on the scale of the impact on Endeavour, the country's biggest owner of poker machine licences, given the company does not break out poker machine profit in its results. The change also adds pressure on other states, particularly New South Wales (NSW), to follow suit and heed community demands for greater regulation of poker machine gambling. Australia is home to one-fifth of the world's poker machine licences, the most of any jurisdiction outside Las Vegas.

Persons: Australia's, midsession, Today's, Byron Kaye, Himanshi, Navya Mittal, Subhranshu Sahu, Stephen Coates Organizations: Endeavour Group, Australia's, Analysts, Endeavour, Woolworths, Labor, Jefferies, Thomson Locations: New South Wales, NSW, Sydney, Australia, Las Vegas, Bengaluru

Woolworths and smaller rival Coles Group Ltd (COL.AX) have experienced wild swings in Australian consumer behaviour since COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020 sparked grocery stockpiling. As with Coles' interim result reported on Tuesday, the Woolworths profit gain was helped by a sharp decline in COVID-19 related expenses. Woolworths shares were up 2% by midsession, against a 0.3% dip in the broader benchmark(.AXJO), as analysts cheered the prospect of profit margin growth at a company exposed to rising supply costs. "Momentum in the key Australian Food business remains solid, with sales growth rates better than expected in early 2H23," E&P Financial retail analyst said Phillip Kimber in a client note. Woolworths declared an interim dividend of 46 Australian cents per share, compared with 39 Australian cents a year earlier.

☆ How Trump's Senate trial could end with a vote to ban him from ever holding federal office again and kill any chances of a 2024 run
▼ + stars: | 2021-02-09 | by ( Kayla Epstein | Dave Levinthal | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

It's unlikely Republicans would join Democrats to vote to convict Trump who's mulled a 2024 run. But the Constitution allows the Senate to bar an official that lawmakers have convicted in an impeachment trial from holding federal office again. It's also not certain if enough Republicans will vote to convict Trump and trigger the vote to ban him from holding public office again. It's not impossible, but the odds of 67 senators voting to convict Trump are long. Jolly at the time said the House need not worry about what the Senate would do with the impeachment vote.

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