Chris Skilton
Queensland-based financial services group Suncorp has given a bullish assessment of its full-year performance, predicting profit growth of between 10 and 12 per cent for its banking operations, between 7.5 per cent and 10.5 per cent for general insurance and more than 10 per cent for wealth management.
The company’s chief financial officer, Chris Skilton, told a London investor conference that Suncorp was confident the full year impact of the credit crunch on its banking operations would be no greater than $10 million to $15 million before tax.
He said given the company’s strong lending growth platform and its exposure to the high growth states of Queensland and Western Australia, it was confident in upgrading its banking guidance “to reflect our expectation of growth in profit before tax and bad debts of between 10 per cent and 12 per cent for the full year”.
Looking at Suncorp’s wealth management operations, Skilton said the company remained on track to achieve its full-year forecast of underlying profit growth of greater than 10 per cent.
