Some of the gloss may have come off Australia's well-regarded banking sector after last week's half-yearly results from ANZ BANKING CROUP, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK and WESTPAC, but stock investors welcomed their restructuring efforts. Westpac failed to raise its dividend for the first time since 2009, NAB left it unchanged for the second straight half, and ANZ cut its payout by 7%, its first reduction in seven years, having posted its biggest half-yearly decline in cash profits since 2008.
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