ANZ profit shows strong Pacific economies

October 29, 2008 03:07:24 PM

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The Australia New Zealand Bank (ANZ) has yielded an annual profit of $F154.69 million (AUD$133 million) for its Pacific business for the year ended September 30 this year.

The Bank says the 11 per cent growth in its 2008 profit means it will continue investments in bettering its services and creating job opportunities in its Pacific operations.

ANZ CEO Pacific Craig Sims said: “This is a good result based on the underlying strength of a number of Pacific economies and market share gains in Fiji, Papua New Guinea (PNG), Solomon Islands and Timor Leste.”

Sims said ANZ continuously invested in its Pacific businesses over the past 12 months, including the addition of 170 staff, two new branches and 20 ATMs.

He said over the past two years, the Bank continued to invest in infrastructure across the Pacific, which had increased branch representation, introduced state-of-the-art scalable technology and efficient operations and processes.

“Now, we are ready to take our business to the next level for the benefit of our people, customers and the Pacific community and our 2008 financial performance means we are well-positioned to deliver on our strategy (2008-2012),” he said.

Sims said ANZ’s financial position also remained very strong despite the unprecedented turbulence in overseas financial markets.

“We are confident that our business is in a strong position. ANZ’s balance sheet remains strong, with a strong capital position and significantly increased liquidity over the past year,” he said.

“We see good growth opportunities across the region, particularly in those countries with high levels of natural resources and tourism, as well as good prospects in the retail and corporate markets,” he added.

Sims said the new Pacific strategy would create a greater level of customer focus by creating key regional leadership roles to bring decision-making closer to the customer.