After reporting a 10 per cent increase in earnings for its December half, Commonwealth Bank released a trading update yesterday detailing more subdued business conditions in the March quarter. CBA’s unaudited cash profit of A$2.6 billion during the quarter was up 1 per cent on the December half quarterly average. Income was flat quarter-on-quarter, as lending growth moderated and competitive pressure in the home loan and deposit markets cut into margins. Interest income fell 2 per cent. In line with the other big banks, CBA reported that credit quality remains sound. Home loan arrears (90 days or more past due) were 44 basis points of the book, compared with 43 bps in the December half. Personal loans arrears rose from 95 bps in the December half to 109 bps in the March quarter and credit card arrears rose from 46 bps to 512 bps. Troublesome and impaired assets rose from 46 bps of total committed exposures in the December half to 47 bps in the March quarter. One area where the bank performed strongly was in the acquisition of new customers. It opened 463,000 new retail transaction accounts in the quarter – up 33 per cent on the previous quarter. Much of this was thanks to the resumption of Australia’s migrant intake. The bank said migrant transaction account openings were “significant”. Business transaction account openings were up 7 per cent on the previous corresponding period.