One in five Commonwealth Bank SME loan customers and close to one in 10 home loan customers were in deferral at the end of June. By the end of last month those proportions had come down to 1.3 per cent of SME loan customers and 2.9 per cent of home loan customers.

CBA provided an update of its loan deferral data yesterday, reporting that it had 52,000 loans worth A$21 billion in deferral at the end of October – down 75 per cent from 210,000 loans worth $67 billion at the end of June.

Of 158,000 home loan deferrals approved between March and October, 22,000 remain in their initial deferral arrangements. Of the rest, 73 per cent have returned to making full repayments, 23 per cent have extended their deferral period, 4 per cent have been provided with further assistance and less than 1 per cent are impaired.

At June 30 the 125,000 home loans on deferral represented 10.8 per cent of loan balances and 8.2 per cent of the number of loans. At the end of October the 46,000 home loans on deferral represented 4 per cent of loan balances and 2.9 per cent of the number of loans.

Of 83,000 business loan deferrals approved between March and October, around 1000 remain in their initial deferral period. Of the rest, 95 per cent have returned to making full repayments, 3 per cent have extended their deferral period, 1 per cent have been provided with further assistance and 1 per cent have been impaired.

At June 30 the 69,000 SME loans on deferral represented 28.4 per cent of loan balances and 19.4 per cent of the number of loans. At the end of October the 4000 SME loans on deferral represented 3 per cent of loan balances and 1.3 per cent of the number of loans.

There were $4.6 billion of deferrals approved in October, of which $4.5 billion were extensions of existing deferrals.

CBA also provided a September quarter trading update, reporting that net profit for the quarter was $1.9 billion ($1.8 billion on a cash basis). On a cash basis, profit fell 16 per cent compared with the previous corresponding period.

Operating income was flat, compared with the quarter average for the June half, while expenses rose 2 per cent (excluding customer remediation costs).

Deferral arrangements kept loan delinquencies in check and impairments were also down.