(Reuters). – Australia Westpac Banking Corp will return A$5.7 Billion ($4.28 Billion) to its shareholders through a buyback, dividends and other means. The No.2 lender has more than doubled its annual profits thanks to the release of money that was saved to deal with the effects of the pandemic.

Westpac was the top performing stock in this year’s “Big Four” and said that even though the economy is recovering and Australian mortgage lending rose by 4% during the second half of 2018, margins would be subject to pressure due to low interest rates.

Australia and New Zealand Banking Group last week admitted that it hadn’t done enough to take advantage of a boom in home loan lending caused by the pandemic that resulted in a nationwide 20% increase in house prices.

Peter King, chief executive officer of Peter King, stated that “Demand is likely to stay high but home price rises should moderate to 8.8% next year” amid tightening banking regulations on home loans.

Cash earnings at the bank were A$5.35 Billion for September. This was just below the A$5.5 billion Reuters poll estimate. The figure was significantly higher than that reported in the A$2.61 million report last year.

A “buyback” of A$3.5 Billion off-market stock shares by the lender is in place. The final dividend was declared at 60 Australian Cents, which amounts to A$2.2 Billion.

($1 = 1.3326 Australian dollars)