ANZ has posted a cash profit of $6.85 billion for the financial year ending 30 September, down 8 per cent compared to FY2022–23.
However, the bank noted this excluded the $196 million Suncorp Bank one-off acquisition accounting adjustments.
In its full-year results released to the ASX on Friday, ANZ reported a statutory profit after tax of $6.54 billion, down 8 per cent on FY22–23.
“This strong performance again demonstrates the benefits of our simplification agenda combined with the targeted investments in our core banking businesses,” chief executive Shayne Elliott said.
“Competition in the sector has continued to be intense, particularly in home lending and deposits. Despite competition and inflation impacting profits, we reported our second strongest revenue performance ever and a full-year cash profit of $6.7 billion, helping deliver a total return of 27 per cent for shareholders.”
Moreover, the bank’s common equity tier 1 (CET1) was recorded at 12.2 per cent, below FY22–23’s 13.3 per cent.
Meanwhile, revenue – excluding the Suncorp acquisition – fell 2 per cent to $20.55 billion. Return on equity was down 131 basis points (bps) to 9.7 per cent while earnings per share fell 9 per cent to 224.3 cents.
Net interest income slipped by 3 per cent to $16.01 billion, while net interest margin (NIM) for FY23–24 fell to 1.57 per cent from 1.70 per cent.
According to Elliott, 2024 still marks a “pivotal” year for the group given the successful acquisition of Suncorp Bank, which has contributed two months’ earnings to this result.
“Since first announcing the purchase in 2022, Suncorp Bank’s solid customer acquisition, along with growth in home loans and deposits, have been particular highlights. The significant work done to prepare for migration of customers also means we are well placed to deliver synergies faster than originally expected.”
Meanwhile, cash profit fell by 17 per cent in the Australia retail division to $1.61 billion, dipped 7 per cent in Australia commercial to $1.34 billion, and recorded a 6 per cent loss in institutional to $2.14 billion.
Elliott continued: “While we are managing the bank for today, we are also preparing for the future. Our new retail platform, ANZ Plus, had a milestone year growing customers by 84 per cent.
“As industry-wide challenges remain in retail banking, this year again highlighted the benefits of our diverse portfolio with institutional achieving record revenue, record profit before provisions and record return on equity.
“Our core institutional transaction platform, Transactive – Global, was a driving force of this success as we support our larger corporate customers with advanced transaction banking services.”
A final dividend of 83 cents per share has been declared, taking ANZ’s full-year dividend for FY23–24 to 166 cents per share, down from 175 cents in FY22–23.
Looking ahead, Elliott said the bank remains focused on delivering good customer outcomes, strengthening risk management and providing consistent financial returns to shareholders.
“We will continue to simplify our business to focus on two key platforms, ANZ Plus and Transactive Global, helping us better serve our customers, manage costs and improve productivity.
“We are expediting the work we have underway to improve our non-financial risk practices and embed a strong understanding of non-financial risk across the bank. This, along with continuing to drive a strong speak-up culture, is a key focus of mine as CEO – as well as across the bank more broadly.”
“We are confident our diversified portfolio, unique global network, highly engaged workforce and financial strength means we are well positioned to continue to deliver for our shareholders, our people and our community,” the CEO said.
