NAB Profit Falls, but Board Still Declares Dividend

National Australia Bank reported full-year cash profit of $6.14 billion, down 13.4%, while its board declared a final dividend of 85 cents per share. The bank’s credit impairment charges climbed to $1.5 billion, an increase of $833 million, as a slowing economy and higher charges weighed on results. The figures put the costs of economic pressure on the bank’s books while shareholders still received a declared payout.

NAB released its results before the Australian Securities Exchange opened on Thursday, November 5, 2026. The reporting period ended September 30. News.com.au said profit fell from $6.75 billion the previous year, while the result came about $200 million below expectations.

The Bank’s Two Scoreboards

The headline cash-profit figure tells one story. NAB also reported that underlying profit, excluding a large notable item announced at the half, rose 6.9%, and revenue grew 5.8%. Chief executive Andrew Irvine put those numbers forward in a statement: "Underlying profit, excluding the large notable item announced at the half, increased 6.9 per cent and revenue grew 5.8 per cent."

The Australian described the decline as the bank’s worst full-year earnings result in several years and reported that credit impairment charges nearly doubled. Its live coverage said cash earnings were flat excluding large notable items, and quoted the bank describing Australia’s "economic growth is slowing." Different measures, same corporate ledger.

NAB also increased its net interest margins by 6 basis points. The final dividend sits beside those earnings measures: a figure declared by the board as credit charges rose and the bank warned about economic pressure.

Who Carries the Pressure

Mortgage holders had remained resilient despite five interest rate hikes that year, Irvine said, though he added that "there are pockets of challenge." He told media: "We are hearing things are getting tougher." The bank’s chief executive said the Reserve Bank’s 25 basis point rate increase on Tuesday would help slow the economy.

Irvine said NAB expected growth of around 1 per cent next year. "We don't think a recession is the most likely scenario but it probably has increased in terms of its probability," he said. The bank’s outlook places mortgage holders, the economy and its own credit impairment charges in the same account of pressure, even as it reports rising revenue and declares a dividend.

The source accounts describe no grassroots response, mutual aid effort or direct action connected with the results. They also report no electoral or legislative remedy. What they do record is the Reserve Bank’s rate decision, NAB’s margins and the board’s dividend: institutional choices set above the households Irvine says are feeling tougher conditions.

Uncertainty, According to the Chief Executive

Irvine said the Reserve Bank would likely hold rates until June to August next year, when NAB expected it to move from raising rates to cutting them. That forecast, he stressed, wasn’t certainty. "However, uncertainty remains elevated," he said.

He identified cost pressures as a material risk to the economy and said a correction in the housing market posed additional downside risk to growth. "For both growth and inflation, productivity remains a key challenge," he said. Irvine also described NAB’s business divisions as getting stronger "despite competition, strategic disruption and a challenging environment." The bank’s own statement of strength now shares the page with higher impairment charges, a warning of slower growth and a dividend for shareholders.