Westpac chief executive officer Brian Hartzer and CFO Peter King were keen, both in their presentation to analysts and to the media later in the day, to highlight the strength of Westpac's balance sheet. "We've met all our prudential targets and with a CET1 ratio of 10.6 per cent, we are already above APRA's 'unquestionably strong' benchmark," Hartzer said. Among the other headline results: cash earnings were A$8.062 billion, up three per cent for the year and one per cent over the prior half, and statutory net profit was $7.990 billion, up seven per cent.Hartzer said the slowing of earnings was also as a result of several non-recurring items that were dealt with this year - in particular to improve the group's reputation. This involved identifying and delivering customer discounts that had not been made clear. Ditto for customers whose insurance claims were denied in the past, where product disclosure could have been clearer."We're continuing to remediate previously reported issues, such as financial planning customers who paid an annual fee, but we can't evidence that they got the advice that they were entitled to," Hartzer said.Collectively, the impact of these changes was $169 million this year, which translates to 1.5 per cent of cash earnings. Apart from removing old legacy issues - settling Storm Financial compensation claims was another piece of continuing reputation damage that Hartzer said was good to get out of the way - the group has been undergoing simplification, restructuring and digitisation.Hartzer said many of these moves contributed to this year's result."We've simplified our business and the number of products on sale in our consumer bank is down by two-thirds, from around 150 products to now below 70 and soon in the 50s."Customers are continuing to shift to digital and that meant that we closed 59 branches during the year across Australia and New Zealand. We expect this trend to continue, but branches remain an important part of what we do and the numbers will really be driven by changes in customer transaction patterns over time.On the negative side, net interest margin was four basis points lower than 12 months ago; excluding the impact of Treasury and markets operations, Westpac's NIM was down three basis points year-on-year, with the decline due to:•    deposit competition and higher wholesale funding costs;•    introduction of the bank levy, which was estimated to cost Westpac $95 million for the full year, which will be paid out of retained earnings and is equivalent to two cents per share; and•    the impact of increasing liquidity balances and lower interest rates.Offsetting this decline was the upward repricing of some mortgages in the second half, contributing positively to NIM margins.Looking at the divisions' performance, Hartzer's "standout result" for the year was Westpac Institutional Bank, which reported a profit of $1.3 billion, 18 per cent up on the previous year. "It's an important part of our portfolio and with an ROE of 13 per cent, it's a good business for our shareholders as well," Hartzer said.A restructure