Over the last few months, the global economic landscape has drastically changed. Most economies anticipated a sharp rebound from prolonged COVID-19 impacts, but with higher inflation and synchronised tightening of monetary policy by the world’s major central banks, the likelihood of a global recession in the short-term is increasing.

Despite the volatile changes in the global economic landscape, the major Australian banks continue to forge ahead, delivering a $1.7 billion cash profit increase to $28.5 billion (up 6.5% versus FY21). Even excluding the effect of large and notable items, underlying cash profit from continuing operations increased 2.2%, highlighting the resilience of the major banks.

After a prolonged period of low rates, the RBA’s progressive rise in interest rates is expected to provide a tailwind to the banking sector. However, the impact of these on the quality of the bank’s lending portfolios is yet to be felt, with increases in minimum loan repayments beginning towards the end of 2022.

Read our analysis of the full year results of the four major banks to compare key performance indicators – as well as commentary on the second-tier banks. Our experts also provide an analysis of the results across key themes including retail and business banking, digital technology, and climate.