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Australia and New Zealand Banking Group has posted a 4 per cent rise in first-half cash profit to $3.1 billion amid continuing strong competition in the home loan market.
Additionally, statutory net profit for the six months ended March 31 was up 20 per cent from the previous corresponding period to $3.5 billion as ANZ wound back provisions worth a net $284 million amid improving economic conditions.
Australia’s third-largest bank said it was already seeing increased demand from its business customers and was well placed to continue supporting them in a world of higher inflation and interest rates.
“We are on target to grow in line with the Australian major banks by the end of our financial year but will do so with an eye to our margin performance,” CEO Shayne Elliott said in a statement on Wednesday.
The lender had previously flagged softer revenue and lower margins in the December quarter amid rising competition and slow processing times in its key home loans business.
ANZ will pay a fully franked interim dividend of 72 cents per share, up two cents from the fiscal 2021 first half.
-AAP
