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CBA in record first-half profit
Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) the country’s top home lender, reported a record first-half cash profit but predicted credit growth would pick up only slowly and warned funding costs would continue to rise. CBA’s cash profit in the six months to December rose to A$3.34bn ($2.1bn) from A$2.9 billion a year ago and beat analyst forecasts’ for A$3.22bn. CBA raised its interim dividend to 132 cents a share, beating a consensus forecast of 130 cents.