Westpac senior executives were keen to dismiss recent negative analyst commentary, which argues the bank's business model is not sustainable, when the bank presented its 2011/12 results yesterday.Recent reports have suggested that the bank's return on equity is falling uncontrollably, that its dividend payout ratio is eating into earnings too heavily, that its emphasis on cost-cutting will make it hard to grow revenue, and that it lags its peers in adjusting its funding mix so as to reduce reliance on wholesale funds.Not so, say chief executive Gail Kelly and chief financial officer Phil Coffey. They reported a net profit of A$5.9 billion in the 12 months to September for the bank - down 15 per cent on the previous year. Return on equity fell from 17.8 per cent in 2010/11 to 14 per cent in the latest year.Kelly said the bank had made $238 million of expense savings ($500 million over two years) through its productivity program. A significant portion of these savings has been reinvested in projects that will generate new revenue.These projects include the rebranding St George Bank's Victorian branches as Bank of Melbourne as well as expansion activity in Asia. Westpac opened a branch in Mumbai, India, during the year. The bank also invested in its teller and call centre systems, and in mobile technology.Kelly said. "Bank of Melbourne is on track. We have 50,000 new customers since the rebranding."Kelly said the bank's strategic priority was to reorient the bank to "higher growth and higher return" business segments. These include retail deposits, insurance, superannuation, trade finance, transaction banking, small and medium enterprise banking, and Asia.On the subject of return on equity, Kelly said she had drawn "a line in the sand" and wanted to maintain ROE at above 15 per cent.Coffey said the reduction in ROE in recent years has been because of changes in the bank's balance sheet and not because of any weakness in performance. As the bank has built up its equity position, to meet regulatory requirements, its balance sheet leverage has been reduced, and this has been the main cause of the ROE fall.  On funding, the bank's deposit-to-loan ratio is 67.6 per cent - an increase of more than 500 basis points over the previous year. In 2009/10, lending exceeded deposit inflow by $1.3 billion. The following year the bank turned this around, and deposit inflows exceeded lending growth by $11 billion. In 2011/12, deposit inflows exceeded lending growth by $19.7 billion.On dividends, Coffey said: "Our strategy has been consistent for some time. We are keen to grow our dividend on a cents per share basis. We want to distribute our $1 billion of surplus franking credits as rapidly as we can. They have value for shareholders."In doing that we want to maintain a consistent payout ratio; the dividend reinvestment plan brings the ratio down."The bank's dividend payout ratio, on a final dividend of 84 cents a share, was 76 per cent. However, the effective payout ratio, after adjusting for the DRP,