The Commonwealth Bank has posted a profit of $9.5 billion, down 6 per cent from its record results last financial year, while noting that younger Australians are bearing the brunt of the impact of the rising cost of living.

The bank said profits before an increase in its provisions for bad and doubtful debts were down 2 per cent to $14.9 billion.

CBA attributed the drop in earnings mainly to inflationary increases in operating expenses, which were partly offset by lower loan impairment expenses.

"Operating expenses increased 3 per cent due to higher inflation impacting staff costs, additional technology spend to support the delivery of our strategic priorities, and lower one-off items," the bank said in its results release.

It said its investment spend was up 1 per cent on last financial year to $2 billion, after investing in modernising its technology in an effort to "enhance services" and meet "evolving regulatory requirements".

The bank said the drop in its net interest margins, which is essentially the gap between what the bank pays to borrow money and the interest rates it receives from lending it out, by 8 percentage points to 1.99 per cent reflected "competitive pressures" and "inflationary cost increases".

"Margins decreased year-on-year largely due to the impact of competition and deposit switching, partly offset by higher earnings on replicating portfolio and equity hedges," it said.

However, CBA noted that margins had stabilised in the second half of the financial year, increasing by 1 percentage point.

The Commonwealth Bank said its return on equity — a key measure of corporate profitability — was down 30 percentage points due to "lower profits".

Australia's largest bank will pay a final dividend of $2.50 per share, compared with $2.40 a year ago.

It will deliver a total dividend for the year of $4.65 per share, fully franked.

'Many households are obviously finding it harder'

The bank's loan impairment expense for bad debts decreased by about 28 per cent to $802 million, which it attributed to robust credit and underwriting practices as well as rising house prices and lower expected losses within consumer finance.

In its investor presentation, CBA chief executive Matt Comyn noted that households and businesses have experienced a number of extreme shocks in recent years, including a global pandemic and inflation pressures.

"The effects are still being felt," he added.

In an interview with The World Today ahead of the briefing, Mr Comyn also provided insights into the bank's economic expectations for the next six to 12 months.

He said the bank did not expect Australia would fall into recession, but "clearly growth has slowed and will continue to over the course of this calendar year".

"We'd be looking for an increase in growth in the coming years," he said.

CBA also expects a "continued, gradual deterioration" in mortgage stress into next year, according to Mr Comyn.

"We're seeing many households are obviously finding it harder and harder with the environment we're in with higher cost of living," Matt Comyn told The World Today.

"We're actually seeing low levels of arrears and stress in the mortgage book. That's not to say that many households are not finding the current environment very challenging."

Mr Comyn said he still expects to see a November interest rate cut as a chance — despite last week's warning from Reserve Bank of Australia Bank governor Michele Bullock that there'll be no cut for six months.

Increase in borrowers struggling to make repayments

The Commonwealth Bank has access to the financial data of millions of Australians and writes about a quarter of the country's mortgages.

It has highlighted a slight increase in the number of borrowers struggling to meet their payments due to the combination of higher inflation and higher interest rates.