ANZ National Bank's quarterly net profit rose 28 per cent, thanks in part to the sale of its FleetPartners business and growing income, it said yesterday.
The bank notched up net profit of $350 million in a competitive market, chief executive Graham Hodges said.
Excluding one-off items, net
profit rose 2.7 per cent to $268 million.
Underlying revenue for the three months to December 31 rose 8 per cent to $758 million and net interest income rose 12 per cent after strong lending and deposit growth.
Net loans and advances rose 12 per cent, to $79.6 billion, and mortgages grew 13 per cent to $44.9 billion.
"In the last 12 months all of our businesses have focused on our customer propositions in order to retain and attract new customers," Hodges said.
"This is being recognised by our customers, with ANZ Retail Banking's customer satisfaction at the highest level for many years. And the National Bank is maintaining its already strong customer satisfaction levels."
Since ANZ bought National from British bank Lloyds TSB for $5.7 billion in October 2004, ANZ's poor customer satisfaction levels have improved.
National Bank's high levels initially dropped before recovering.
Research organisation Roy Morgan said customer satisfaction was second-highest for the National Bank, having risen to 82.6 per cent from 79.9 per cent in May 2003.
- NZPA
