Australia & New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) has posted cash profit of A$2bn for the first quarter of fiscal 2017, an increase of 31% compared to the quarterly average of the second half of the financial year 2016.
The bank attributed the jump in profit to a good performance in Australia and New Zealand retail business and in Institutional, a lower provision charge, as well as the sale of its old headquarters on 100 Queen Street.
Go deeper with GlobalData
The lender’s statutory net profit for the quarter ended 31 December 2016 increased 8% to A$1.6bn. Revenues increased 7%, while expenses dropped 4%.
Profit before provisions charge jumped 17% from the comparative period.
ANZ CEO Shayne Elliott said: "The first quarter saw a positive start to the year. There was further momentum in executing our strategy to build a simpler, better balanced and fairer bank that more consistently meets customer expectations, and delivers improved shareholder returns.
"Our early progress in transforming ANZ is providing capacity to invest in new initiatives that provide a better experience for customers. Our ability to deliver these outcomes for customers while maintaining good earnings momentum has been supported by strong productivity gains and improved capital efficiency.
"Our key customer businesses delivered good outcomes. Retail and Commercial in Australia and New Zealand again performed well. Highlights include market share gains in customer deposits and Australian home lending, and further gains in new-to-bank customers driven by the success of ApplePay and AndroidPay.
"Institutional Banking delivered pleasing results in Australia and Asia. This has seen us manage the revenue impact of initiatives to improve capital efficiency and returns."
