National Australia Bank profit down 21% to $2bln

But lender positive that business lending spurt can help drive profit up in next 6 months.

National Australia Bank, one of the country's largest lenders, reported a 21.4 percent drop in first half net profit on Thursday, following customer fee cuts and lower revenue from its treasury division and wholesale banking arm's activities in global financial markets.

Net profit fell to 2.095 billion Australian dollars ($1.9 billion) for the six months to March 31, from AU$2.664 billion (US$2.37 billion) a year earlier, the Melbourne-based bank said in a statement.

The bank's wholesale banking division saw a AU$210 million (US$186.58) drop in earnings to AU$403 million (US$358.06 million) due to lower revenues from its global markets and treasury businesses, which were abnormally high in the previous half-year due to market volatility.

The bank's bad and doubtful debt charge fell by 32 percent to AU$1.23 billion (US$1.09 billion) from a year earlier but it wasn't enough to offset the wholesale banking division's lower earnings and the impact of its lower customer fees.

Cash earnings rose 8.2 percent to AU$2.19 billion (US$1,94 billion).

View the full story in Business Week.