Copyright tradingview
Australian lender ANZ Group ANZ reported a 14% drop in its full-year cash earnings on Monday, reflecting a significant one-time charge related to job cuts and a regulatory settlement, as well as the impact of competition and rate cuts on margins. ANZ took a A$1.11 billion ($721.28 million) post-tax profit hit, including A$414 million from around 3,500 staff redundancies, and A$264 million in penalties to settle its lawsuit with the securities regulator involving its markets and retail businesses. ANZ, the country's fourth-largest lender by market capitalisation, posted cash profit of A$5.79 billion for the year ended September 30, missing a Visible Alpha consensus estimate of A$6.17 billion and below last year's A$6.73 billion. Excluding the one-off charge, cash profit came in at A$6.90 billion. The lender's Australian retail and business and private banking divisions underperformed during the year. "Despite growth in both assets and deposits, intense competition and a falling interest rate environment impacted margins," CEO Nuno Matos said. ANZ's net interest margin declined by 2 basis points from a year earlier to 1.55%. It declared a final dividend of 83 Australian cents per share, the same as last year. ($1 = 1.5389 Australian dollars)
