Feb 7 (Reuters) - Commonwealth Bank of Australia, the country's biggest mortgage lender, posted a decline in first-half cash-profit from continued operations on Wednesday, hurt by regulatory and compliance costs.
The bank's profit for the six months ended Dec. 31 slipped 2 percent to A$4.74 billion ($3.74 billion).
The bank's net interest margin, the difference between interest costs and interest earned and a key gauge of profitability, rose 6 basis points to 2.16 percent during the period.
($1 = 1.2682 Australian dollars)
(Reporting by Shashwat Pradhan in Bengaluru; Editing by Stephen Coates and Adrian Croft)
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