Banks can expect mono-line competitors, perhaps backed by multinational technology giants, to attack profit margins on deposit and transaction accounts, Mike Hirst, chief executive of Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, warned yesterday.Presenting the bank's full year profit, Hirst took a philosophical walk through the strategic issues facing the industry."You can be certain there'll be more regulation.""There will be greater competition. In the history of Australian banking, cross-subsidies go from one business area to another."We see mono-lines come in and extract them," he said, citing the attack on mortgage margins in the 1990s by providers funded through securitisation."Now with deposits priced where they are, there are excess margins in parts of the business that people will look to exploit."Technology in banking is very much an enabler,'" he said, making reference to Google and its purchase of an eight per cent stake in social lender the Lending Club, at a substantial valuation.One response from Bendigo has been to step up its own investment in payments innovation, to prepare for real-time payments. Hirst also said customer uptake of mobile banking had forced a shift in investment choice.He said a rebuild of Bendigo's online banking platform was switched over to a redevelopment of the mobile banking platform once customer demand for the latter overtook the former. The bank will complete the re-working of its online banking platform later on.Hirst also said the bank believed it had another seven to 10 years of life in its core banking system, and, thus, plenty of time to consider long term investment options.Bendigo and Adelaide Bank reported an eight per cent rise in underlying cash profit, to A$348 million, on the back of increased net interest margins.Its statutory net profit was up 81 per cent, to $352 million. The 2012 profit was reduced by a $95 million write-down on its margin lending operations and its wealth management division.The return on equity improved slightly, to 8.5 per cent from 8.4 per cent.The bad debt charge jumped 18 per cent, to $37.8 million, thanks the bank's exposure to struggling North Queensland cattle stations and to an increase in the bankruptcies of investors caught up in the collapsed Great Southern managed investment scheme.