The financial report showed that cash profit for the three months ended June 30 fell by 6.1% to $1.11 billion. NAB chief executive Ross McEwan said a few customers hit by the coronavirus pandemic ought to think about selling their properties before price fall.
McEwan told reporters, “Every reasonable step will be taken to keep people at homes, But we all know that there will be some circumstances where people are better off selling out early and taking some equity out of their homes or keeping some equity before it disappears.”
The bank has provided a moratorium to the customers to cope with the pandemic. Since April, the bank’s deferred amount has increased by 12% to A$56 billion ($ 40 billion), approximately 12% of home loan customers, and 15% of business loans.
The Melbourne-based lender appeared to be less positive about its evaluation of how customers would adapt to repayments than larger adversary Commonwealth Bank, who expects most of its customers (around 195,000 ) who opted for a moratorium will be able to start repaying the loan amount by this week.
NAB predicts that the situation will be very difficult in the short term. The unemployment rate will exceed 11% this year before recovering next year to support a strong economic recovery by 2022.
