Australia's Westpac takes A$260m earnings hit to compensate customers

Australia's Westpac Banking Corp. will take a A$260m ($184m) hit to first-half cash earnings to compensate customers for poor financial advice, pushing its total remediation bill past A$650m. The bank reports that refunds are mainly for customers charged unfair ongoing advice fees by certain financial planners, for retail or business customers that had interest only loans the did not automatically switch to principal and interest when required, and business customers provided incorrect loans. The cost could climb further as the bank is still reviewing other cases where customers may h...