⁍ Australia’s banks have been grappling with record-low interest rates, higher default risk and loan holidays for struggling borrowers.

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⁍ BOQ’s impairment expense equates to about 37 basis points of gross loans.

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⁍ The Brisbane-based lender said it still expected to end the year with CET1, a closely watched measure of spare cash.

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– Australia’s fourth-largest bank says it will take a $123 million write-down on the value of its loans because of the country’s recession, Reuters reports. Bank of Queensland says it will record pre-tax loan impairment expenses of about 37 basis points of gross loans due to the spread of the coronavirus, which is believed to have infected hundreds of people in Australia and New Zealand. The write-down will reduce the bank’s common equity tier 1 ratio by 39 basis points, the Sydney Morning Herald reports. The bank says it has made a “full and unreserved apology to people affected by these issues and will ensure people are remediated fully as a matter of priority.” Australia’s banks have been struggling with record-low interest rates, higher default risk, and loan holidays for struggling borrowers, as the country tackles its first recession in nearly three decades. Bank of Queensland says it still expects to end the year with CET1, a closely watched measure of spare cash, comfortably above its target range of 9.0% to 9.5%. The lender said it still expected to end the year with CET1, a closely watched measure of spare cash, comfortably above its target range of 9.0% to 9.5%. An A$11 million expense related to some irregularities identified by a review of historical employee pay and entitlements would also be included in its fiscal 2020 result, the bank said. “BOQ has made a full and unreserved apology to people affected by these issues and will ensure people are remediated fully as a matter of priority,” the bank said the bank.