ANZ CEO hits back at politicians

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ANZ CEO hits back at politicians

thewall.com.au | 1:02 am Feb 17, 2012

ANZ chief executive Mike Smith has accused politicians of short term point scoring by criticising the bank for its rate rises and job cuts.
ANZ was the first of the big four banks to raise its standard variable home loan rate last week after the Reserve Bank of Australia left the cash rate on hold.
The move drew an almost immediate response from Treasurer Wayne Swan, who said Australia's major banks are very profitable, with net interest margins back to where they were prior to the global financial crisis.
ANZ has since said it would cut a total of 1,000 jobs from its 24,000-strong Australian workforce by September.
On Friday it reported a 5.7 per cent rise in first quarter underlying profit to $1.48 billion.
Delivering the result, Mr Smith said the world was currently going through the second, longer phase of the global financial crisis.
Tough decisions are being made to deal with massive debts, and the Australian economy is going through a structural change, he said.
"I have to be blunt here and say that, frankly, politics isn't helping," Mr Smith told analysts.
"We need to bring more focus to the long term opportunities and challenges facing Australia, rather than short term point scoring."
Mr Smith said ANZ's funding costs continue to rise, due to more-expensive offshore markets and the competition for deposits among domestic banks.
As a result, ANZ's margins in Australia in the three months to December were down nine basis points from the preceding six months, it said.

ANZ posts billion-dollar quarterly profit

abc.net.au | 5:56 am Feb 17, 2012

ANZ Bank says its unaudited statutory profit came in at $1.7 billion in the first quarter of the financial year. The country's fourth-largest bank says underlying profit rose to $1.48 billion, which was in line with analysts' estimates. ANZ was the last of…
ANZ posts $1.7 billion first-quarter net profit

news.com.au | 4:36 am Feb 17, 2012

ANZ has reported a first quarter profit rise to $1.48 billion, days after raising interest rates and axing 1000 jobs. ANZ said the profit was due to good results in its offshore operations, but that margin pressures continued in Australia. The bank said…
Stop bashing banks, says ANZ chief Mike Smith

heraldsun.com.au | 12:48 am Feb 17, 2012

ANZ boss Mike Smith has slammed politicians for "not helping'' the economy as it struggles to adjust to the challenging post-global financial crisis environment. Mr Smith says there needs to be more focus on the long-term and less populist bank bashing as…
ANZ bank profit

theage.com.au | 3:33 am Feb 17, 2012