ANZ Chief Executive Shayne Elliott is claiming early progress in transforming the bank. His management is providing capacity to invest in new initiatives that provide a better experience for customers.
ANZ has delivered a 31 percent rise in cash profit to $2 billion over the three months to December 31 and is upbeat on his transformation efforts at the bank.
Chief Executive Officer Shayne Elliott said: «The first quarter saw a positive start to the year. There was further momentum in executing our strategy to build a simpler, better balanced and fairer bank that more consistently meets customer expectations, and delivers improved shareholder returns.»
Asian Influence
Elliott is claiming early progress in transforming ANZ saying his management is providing capacity to invest in new initiatives that provide a better experience for customers. Also ANZ's ability to deliver these outcomes for customers while maintaining good earnings momentum has been supported by strong productivity gains and improved capital efficiency.
Speaking to the bank's in-house publication «BlueNotes» Elliot said the businesses delivered good outcomes. Retail and Commercial in Australia and New Zealand performed well. Highlights include market share gains in customer deposits and Australian home lending, and further gains in new-to-bank customers driven by the success of ApplePay and AndroidPay.
Institutional Banking delivered pleasing results in Australia and Asia. The bank was able to improve capital efficiency and returns. ANZ disposed of its wealth management and retail banking business in five Asian markets for approximately S$ 110 million above book value in October 2016. Further diluting the Asian exposure last month ANZ also dumped its 20 percent stake in China's Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank.
Capital Benefits
The capital benefits from the sale of minority investments and non-core businesses leaves ANZ in a strong capital position ahead of domestic and international regulatory changes. Once the regulatory environment is clearer, the bank will be in a position to consider what capital flexibility this provides.
The wealth management business of ANZ will also be sold at some stage during 2017 giving Elliott further capital to play with.
«Overall we have seen good progress in the first quarter. Clearly though, there is still a great deal to do to sustain this progress in a low growth environment and to deliver a winning proposition that meets our customers’ rapidly changing needs,» Elliott added.
