The ratings on Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. (ANZ) reflect the bank's strengthening financial profile, which includes its strong asset quality by international standards and very strong track record of profitability. In addition, the bank has made positive progress to date on key elements of the Basel II framework. Supporting the rating is also the bank's good and well-entrenched market position in its core markets of Australia and New Zealand, and its well-established risk-management capability. These strengths are offset by the bank's moderate capitalization, limited geographic diversity by international standards, and a slightly higher reliance on wholesale funding relative to similarly rated peers'. ANZ's entrenched market position in its core geographic markets of Australia and New Zealand underpins
