ANZ Bank reported a 4 percent rise in net profit with revenue growth of 1 percent. Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi
The country's biggest bank has posted a steady first-half result reflecting a challenging economic environment that is expected to continue for the rest of the year.
ANZ Bank reported a 4 percent rise in net profit with revenue growth of 1 percent.
Key numbers for the six months ended March compared with a year ago:
- Net statutory profit $1.04 billion vs $1.00b
- Net cash profit $1.155b vs $1.11b
- Revenue $2.52b vs $2.49b
- Net interest income $2.14b vs $2.13b
- Impairments $33m vs $121m
- Net interest margin 2.56% vs 2.67%
Bank chief executive Antonia Watson said the bank's performance slowed in the second-half of last year, hit by stubbornly high inflation, a restrictive official cash rate, rising unemployment and a drop in business and consumer confidence.
She said the economic pressures were likely to continue throughout the year with unemployment expected to rise further, and more households and businesses affected by the downturn.
Despite subdued customer activity in the housing market, she said home loan market share grew with $10.1b in new home lending.
Most customers moved onto higher home loan rates with about 17 percent still on mortgage interest rates lower than 5 percent.
"Given the more challenging environment we are in, we do need to remain cautious. The number of customers falling behind on their repayments is rising," she said.
Customer deposits rose 2 percent in the period, with more customers moving money into term deposits.
Watson said business and agri customers were cautious about taking on further debt, though there had been a strong response from regional businesses seeking to reinvest following last year's devastating extreme weather events.
In addition, business and agri customers drew down $15 million in lending to fund assets or projects that demonstrated environmental benefits through the ANZ Business Green Loan, taking the total lending since launch to $42m.
"Climate change continues to be a priority for ANZ NZ, in particular supporting our customers to reduce their climate impact and improve resilience," she said.
Watson said the bank also continued to invest in technology and to combat cyber crimes, alongside the rest of the banking sector.
She said the Commerce Commission's report on personal banking competition, indicated the market structure and profitability of the five largest New Zealand banks were consistent with banking sectors in other countries, with similar sized markets.
The bank's owner, Australia's ANZ Group, reported flat first-half revenue of A$10.15 billion and a 4 percent drop in net profit to A$3.41b.