ANZ Lifts Cash Profit 31% to $7.59 Billion on Deep Cost Cuts, but the Market Sells the Shares Down

ANZ has reported a 31% jump in full-year cash profit to $7.59 billion, as a large cost-cutting program offset narrower lending margins and higher provisions for bad debts. Investors were not convinced, sending the shares 3.2% lower on Monday.

The numbers

According to ANZ’s results release on Monday 9 November, for the year to 30 September 2026:

• Statutory profit: $7.27 billion, a 23% increase, according to ABC News.
• Cash profit: $7.591 billion, up 31%. Excluding significant items booked in 2025, cash profit rose 10%, and cash return on tangible equity rose 109 basis points to 11.56%.
• Costs: ANZ said it realised a productivity benefit of $902 million, ahead of the $875 million of gross savings it flagged at the half, and its cost-to-income ratio improved by more than 4 percentage points to 49.26%. ABC News reported net operating expenses fell 7% to $11.1 billion.
• Margin: net interest margin contracted 2 basis points to 1.53%, with ANZ noting increased competition in lending, ABC News reported.
• Dividend: a final dividend of 83 cents a share, with franking lifted to 80% from 75%, for a full-year total of 166 cents.
• Capital: a CET1 ratio of 11.99%, down 4 basis points on a year earlier.

Provisions edge up

The total credit impairment charge was $582 million. The individual provision charge rose $33 million to $360 million, which ANZ said reflected continued strong credit quality. The collective provision charge rose $108 million to $222 million, reflecting portfolio growth and what the bank called “emerging risk under the evolving macroeconomic backdrop with higher interest rates and costs of living conditions becoming more challenging for our customers”. Non-performing exposures were unchanged at 0.57% of total credit exposure.

“The results we are announcing today demonstrate the significant progress we have made through disciplined execution in the first year of our ANZ 2030 strategy,” chief executive Nuno Matos said.

On customers, Mr Matos said: “We are also helping small and medium-sized businesses as they weather a more challenging environment, improve efficiency and build their businesses.” He added that retail customers were largely resilient, but “for some customers, financial pressure did become more evident in the second half.”

What comes next

ANZ said it remained on track to complete the integration of Suncorp Bank by June 2027 and to deliver a single customer front-end for retail and small business customers by September 2027. “Looking ahead, 2027 will be pivotal for ANZ,” Mr Matos said.

ABC News also reported that ANZ’s annual report confirms the bank will no longer finance new or upstream expansions of oil and gas projects, including LNG plants, bringing it into line with the other major banks.

Why the shares fell

Early reviews were positive. JP Morgan banking analyst Andrew Triggs said cash profit was about 1% above his expectation, ABC News reported. But the stock reversed as the session went on. UBS analyst John Storey described the result as an “in-line” earnings outcome, saying: “FY27 consensus appears to broadly capture guidance already, and in the context of ANZ’s share price outperforming year-to-date, with positioning fairly elevated to peers we question if this result will be enough to convince the mkt of further EPS (earnings per share) upgrades and share price outperformance.”

The other major banks also closed lower on Monday, The Sydney Morning Herald reported, in a session where mining stocks carried the market.

Sources: ANZ media release, “2026 Full Year Result & Proposed Final Dividend” (9 November 2026); ABC News markets live coverage (9 November 2026); The Sydney Morning Herald (9 November 2026).