Australia's Westpac to take $1.44 billion impairment charge in first-half result

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About A$1.6 billion of the impairment charges are predominantly related to COVID-19 impacts, the country’s second-largest lender said.

The impairments are in addition to provisions of A$1.43 billion the lender announced earlier this month, mostly for an expected fine over accusations it enabled millions of illegal payments, including between known child sex offenders.