ANZ has posted a $6.5 billion full year cash profit, up 11 per cent on the previous year.
The cash profit, a measure banks use to reflect underlying performance, rose in the year to September 30 amid stronger earnings from the bank’s Australian and Asian businesses.
It compares to a cash profit of $5.83 billion in the previous year.
The bank’s net profit, which includes one-off financial items, was $6.3 billion, also up 11 per cent from $5.66 billion in the previous year.
ANZ chief executive Mike Smith attributed the profit result to the bank’s long-term growth strategy and focus on expansion into Asia.
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“The scale of the transformation at ANZ over the past six years is significant and we are now beginning to unlock the real potential of our franchise in Australia, New Zealand and Asia-Pacific,” he said.
ANZ had also increased its market share in Australia, where profit was up 11 per cent over the year, he said.
Profit was up 15 per cent from its Asia-focused International and Institutional Banking division.
“Today, the continued shift of global growth to Asia means that our strategy focused on building an Asia-connected bank makes more sense than ever,” he said.
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“It is creating growth options in all our businesses by allowing us to better meet the needs of customers by capturing the banking opportunities linked to regional capital, trade and wealth flows.”
ANZ’s New Zealand division recorded a 36 per cent increase in cash profit, the company’s 4E document shows. The bank attributed the result to cost-cutting and improvements in credit quality.
Meanwhile, the bank’s global wealth division lifted its profit 36 per cent, thanks to more ANZ customers using its wealth solutions products.
The bank also improved credit quality, with gross impaired assets down 18 per cent, compared to the same period last year and down nine per cent compared to March this year. The individual provision charge was down 17 per cent compared with September 2012, but down five per cent compared to March 2013.
ANZ announced a final, fully-franked, dividend of 91 cents, which will take its full-year distribution to $1.64 cents per share, up from $1.45 last year.
Morningstar analyst David Ellis said the profit result had beaten expectations.
“The result was hard to fault with particularly strong performances from the Australian and New Zealand operations,” he said.
