Shareholder first half update

A message from ANZ's Chairman - Paul O'Sullivan

ANZ reported a strong result for the half year ended 31 March 2023, delivering record revenues and cash profit for our shareholders. All four businesses – Australia Retail, Australia Commercial, New Zealand and Institutional – performed strongly for our customers.

Our Statutory Profit after tax for the half year was $3,547 million, down 1% on the previous half.

Cash profit (from continuing operations) was $3,821 million, up 12% on the previous half. ANZ’s Common Equity Tier 1 Ratio was strong at 13.2% and Cash Return on Equity was 11.4%.

The Interim Dividend of 81 cents per share amounts to approximately $2.4 billion being paid to you, our shareholders. It is fully franked for Australian investors and carries full imputation for New Zealand shareholders.

The Board is pleased with the strong financial and strategic outcomes across the business.

The positive result is the outcome of our strategy to simplify, reshape and de-risk the business in recent years. ANZ has sold more than 30 non-core businesses in the past seven years and has replaced all of the foregone revenue from those disposals with better quality income.

It also reflects a strong focus on operational performance and customer experience across all our divisions. This was the first result reported under our new Non-Operating Holding Company structure which will provide ANZ with greater flexibility and potential to create additional value over time.

In Australia Retail we maintained momentum in home lending, while the successful roll out of our new digital banking platform ANZ Plus continued with more than $6 billion in deposits at the start of May, bringing in tens of thousands of new customers to ANZ.

Institutional posted a record half-year result, producing strong returns across the Division with payments and currency processing, particularly for other financial institutions, leading the way. The performance of the international business was notable, contributing more than 60% of revenue growth.

The Commercial business is now operating as a stand-alone division. Revenue was up in the half, generating the highest return on equity of our divisions, driven by disciplined margin management and a strong deposit base.

In New Zealand, we also completed the single largest regulatory program in our history, BS11 – a hugely complex program involving thousands of staff and more than five years of work – while our team also worked to support communities affected by the flooding in Auckland and Cyclone Gabrielle.

From a credit quality perspective, your bank remains in a strong position. The balance sheet is one of the best capitalised in the world and ANZ was among the first banks to successfully access global funding markets after the recent period of instability.

And our portfolio of businesses continues to evolve. During the half we progressed the regulatory applications to acquire Suncorp Bank and took further steps to strengthen our ecosystem strategy, including by growing Cashrewards and investing in View Media Group.

There are some challenging times ahead. We are seeing intense competition in retail banking in Australia and New Zealand. Sustained higher inflation and interest rates will create difficult conditions for some households and businesses across the economy.

Thankfully the number of ANZ customers in difficulty remains low for now. Nonetheless, the Board, in line with accepted accounting policy, has seen it appropriate to set aside $4 billion in collective provisions – over and above our record level of capital – to protect our balance sheet and shareholders’ interests should the economy deteriorate.

The management team has built a business with geographic diversification, a robust capital position and a strong and diverse deposit base. As a result, ANZ stands ready to help our customers in these potentially challenging times.

Finally, I would like to acknowledge the strong contribution by our people across the ANZ network. The ANZ teams’ unrivalled commitment to our culture, our customers, our shareholders and the broader community is our best asset.

Half Year Highlights

¹ Cash profit excludes non-core items included in statutory profit and is provided to assist readers in understanding the result of the core business activities of the Group.

The non-core items are calculated consistently period on period so as not to discriminate between positive and negative adjustments, and comprise economic hedging and similar accounting items that represent timing differences that will reverse through earnings in the future.

The net after tax adjustment was an increase to statutory profit of $274 million (all attributable to continuing operations) made up of several items. Refer pages 71 to 73 of the Results Announcement for further details.