The Australia and New Zealand Banking Group posted an unaudited cash profit of A$1.73 billion in the three months ended December 31.
Loans and advances increased 3% compared to the end of the 2013 year.
The bank did not comment separately on the New Zealand business except to say that there had been strong performance in the under-80% LVR home loan segment and the bank had consolidated its market-leading position while producing further benefits from its simplification programme.
“ANZ’s business strategy has also led to ongoing improvements in the quality of our lending book. Together with the outlook for continued low interest rates and low levels of corporate leverage, we now expect the total FY14 provision charge is likely to be around 10% lower than FY13,” ANZ chief executive Mike Smith said.
“The bottom line is that we have made a good start to 2014. There remain a number of challenging issues in the global economic environment however these are now largely more predictable. Our performance in the first quarters means we are on track to deliver a solid 2014,” Smith said.
