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The ANZ Banking Group has more than met market expectations, using a trading update today to point to an Asia Pacific profit after tax of around 125 per cent with an Australian profit expectation of around 14 per cent.
But at the same time, the banking group has pointed to provisioning for the full year being higher than for 2008 at around $2.4 billion to $2.5 billion.
Commenting on the update, ANZ chief executive Mike Smith said he believed the group’s strategy for handling the global economic meltdown was paying off.
However, he said while Australia was better positioned than most other countries and had been remarkably resilient so far, this had not given the banking group immunity, and this would also be the case in 2009.
“We are also facing difficult conditions in New Zealand,” Smith said.
“In this environment, our underlying business is travelling well,” he said. “We are continuing to deal with legacy issues, managing the impact of the financial crisis and implementing our super regional strategy.”
Smith said the banking group had strengthened its balance sheet through increased provisioning and significantly increased liquid assets.
