Bulletin: ANZ Ratings Unchanged Following Half-Year Results

MELBOURNE (S&P Global Ratings) May 4, 2016--S&P Global Ratings today said that its ratings on Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. (ANZ; AA-/Stable/A-1+) and wholly owned New Zealand banking subsidiary ANZ Bank New Zealand Ltd. (AA-/Stable/A-1+) are unchanged following the release of ANZ's half-year results. We note that ANZ's statutory net profit after tax and cash net profit after tax were down by 22% and 24%, respectively, a substantial decrease compared with the prior corresponding period. The lower profitability was primarily due to initiatives totaling A$717 million to reposition ANZ for the future. These initiatives include: An accounting change to the application of ANZ's software capitalization policy (A$441 million) in recognition of a more rapidly changing technology environment; Impairment

...MELBOURNE (S&P Global Ratings) May 4, 2016--S&P Global Ratings today said that its ratings on Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. (ANZ; ##-/Stable/A-1+) and wholly owned New Zealand banking subsidiary ANZ Bank New Zealand Ltd. (##-/Stable/A-1+) are unchanged following the release of ANZ's half-year results. We note that ANZ's statutory net profit after tax and cash net profit after tax were down by 22% and 24%, respectively, a substantial decrease compared with the prior corresponding period. The lower profitability was primarily due to initiatives totaling A$717 million to reposition ANZ for the future. These initiatives include: + An accounting change to the application of ANZ's software capitalization policy (A$441 million) in recognition of a more rapidly changing technology environment; + Impairment of ANZ's investment in AmBank (reflecting the impact of the slowing Malaysian economy on the bank) and net gain in relation to Bank of Tianjin (A$231 million); + Group restructuring...

Bulletin