ANZ New Zealand says there is evidence the New Zealand economy has stabilised despite a 19% drop in underlying profit for the December quarter against the previous comparable period.ANZ New Zealand chief executive Jenny Fagg said at the release of its Dec
ANZ New Zealand says there is evidence the New Zealand economy has stabilised despite a 19% drop in underlying profit for the December quarter against the previous comparable period.
ANZ New Zealand chief executive Jenny Fagg said at the release of its December quarter results today that there was the prospect of a significant improvement to the bank’s business over the next year or two.
This morning the bank produced its general disclosure statement (GDS) comparing the December quarter to 2008.
GDS underlying profit declined by 19% to $202 million.
However, Ms Fagg said when comparing the December 2009 quarter with the September quarter, signs of recovery are apparent.
“We are encouraged by the lit in profit in the December quarter compared with the September quarter, in line with signs of recovery in the broader economy following the recession,” she said.
Provision trends are moderating. A key improvement in the December 2009 quarter is the pronounced reduction in provisioning for credit impairment which has decreased from $351 million to $151 million.”
Lending volumes were subdued. Gross loans and advances decreased to $96.65 billion for the December quarter from $99.12 billion in December 2008.
For the last three months of 2009, $2.5 billion was provided in new home loans across all ANZ and National banks.
ANZ New Zealand's parent company, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group today reported an underlying profit after tax for the four months to January 31 of approximately $A1.6 billion – 16% above the prior corresponding period.
Group chief executive Mike Smith said the outlook for the economies of Australia, New Zealand and Asia is significantly more positive than at the same point in 2009.
“The economic cycle is unfolding much as we anticipated although the resilience of the economy in Australia now means that we are unlikely to see the stress that might originally have been expected in the consumer portfolio,” he said.
