ANZ's $1.7 billion December quarter
Just days after announcing significant job cuts, the ANZ has announced a December quarter statutory profit after tax of $1.7 billion.
However like all the other major banking groups, ANZ reported that its wealth management divisions had struggled amid continuing market volatility.
The December quarter update, released to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) today, saw the banking group's chief executive Mike Smith claim that although the business in Australia was tracking reasonably well, it had to continue adapting its business model in the domestic and international environment, particularly in both retail and wealth.
"The environment for banking internationally has become significantly more challenging following the first phase of the global financial crisis," he said.
"Bank funding costs are continuing to rise as the deepening economic and financial crisis in Europe causes dislocation and volatility in global markets, although prospects are brighter in the United States."
The ANZ chief executive said he did not believe there would be a return to the level of credit growth that banks experienced pre-crisis for the foreseeable future as consumers reduced their spending and businesses paced their investments.
Pointing to the challenging environment being encountered by ANZ, Smith said the banking group's recent decisions on interest rates and how many people it employed "reflects a need to transform our business in new and often painful ways".
The ANZ December quarter analysis referred to wealth in terms of volumes in E*Trade and funds under management in the wealth management space having been "impacted by volatile market conditions".
"Claims experience in the insurance business was also adverse for the quarter," it said.
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