ANZ has announced a huge rise in profits, with its NPAT spiking by 72% year-on-year. It will pay out $1.42 per share as a dividend, 80% up on 2020.
The Big Four bank topped out at over $6 billion in profits on the back of a massive 179,000 new home loans in Australia alone. Pre-tax profits were steady at $8bn, a negligible change on 2020.
The bank said that it had been negatively affected by refinancers, but still saw lending rise by 11% total. Its turnaround time problems have been widely acknowledged in the industry and by brokers, and CEO Shayne Elliott (pictured) referenced loan processing problems in his statement to the ASX.
“This year demonstrated the benefits of our diversified portfolio as we provided solid returns for shareholders while also successfully navigating the continuing impacts of COVID-19 on our customers and our people,” he said.
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“Australia Retail & Commercial grew lending and customer deposits during the year and delivered good margin performance across the division. Home loan revenue growth was in the low double digits.”
“However, second half volumes were impacted by a competitive refinancing market, customers paying down their loans faster and processing issues. We have been working on a range of improvements and they are already having a positive impact on processing times.”
Elliott added that his bank was able to take advantage of efficiencies and reduce costs to help it maintain its strong profits.
“Our progress in simplifying the business drove down the cost of running the bank for the third consecutive year and we continue to invest in new initiatives at record pace to build a stronger base for future growth,” he said. “We also managed shareholder capital prudently and led the industry in returning funds to shareholders.”
“While we benefitted from a more benign credit environment, indicators such as 90+ days past due and deferrals performed better than expected and reflected our prudent management over many years. We recognise the outlook remains somewhat uncertain and we have more than $4 billion of credit reserves should conditions deteriorate.”
“We managed our business against the backdrop of COVID-19. Our employee engagement remained at historically high levels, even as staff largely worked remotely, and we supported our customers in need through the reinstatement of loan deferrals as well as providing finance to increase economic activity.”
