No doubt will be announcing a multi-billion dollar profit.
If they didn't the Govt would be crapping themselves, there is a reason there is a four pillars policy, they are basically a quasi Govt organisation, somewhat like Qantas and Telstra.
They are independent but have to toe the Govt line to receive favourable consideration in Govt decisions, also the big 4 banks are some of the only companies that pay a super profits tax if my memory serves me correcly.
So if the Big 4 aren't making good profits, there is something seriously wrong in the economy and they wont have the funds to lend out, which in turn could cause further implossion then the RBA has to get involved by supplying the funds and the overseas banks with exposure to our banks loan books get nervous and so on.
Remember back in 1987 when Australia had very little savings and the Australian banks had big exposure to Bond Corp, Skase and Adelaide Steamships etc, then the stock market crash happened a couple of the Big 4 nearly went belly up as the overseas banks called in the debts, from memory the Govt had to throw money and promises in to stop the rot, then Keating brought in super to help Australia's poor savings situation.
So IMO the banks making a healthy profit is a reflection the economy managing ok.
Only my thoughts and memories of events, someone will correct me if I've got it wrong, then I can google history to refresh my aging brain. Lol
Just checked one of the above statements.
levy on major banks
A tax of 0.06 per cent will be applied to the liabilities of banks meeting certain size criteria, with the effect that, initially, it will apply from 1 July 2017 to the five largest banks (ANZ, Commonwealth, NAB, Macquarie and Westpac). The tax is expected to raise $6.2 billion over the forward estimates or around $1.5 billion annually. The tax will apply to: ‘corporate bonds, commercial paper, certificates of deposit, and Tier 2 capital instruments’. It will not apply to additional Tier 1 capital and customer deposits protected by the Financial Claims Scheme (FCS).
[2][3] Large deposits (not covered by the FCS) would be subject to the new tax.
[4] The tax will require legislation to implement.
Impact on competition
The five major banks together provide 84 per cent of lending for housing, and 81 per cent of gross loans and advances.
[5] All other banks, credit unions and building societies are below the required size threshold.
[6] Due to a number of commercial and market factors (including size), the major banks can access wholesale funding at lower costs than their smaller competitors.
[7] The tax would reduce this funding advantage, making it easier for smaller authorised deposit-taking institutions
[8] (ADIs) to compete.