The ANZ Bank will pay an unchanged interim dividend of 80 cents a share after reporting a 4% rise in cash profit to 3.49 billion.
The bank told the market this morning before trading started that its statutory profit rose 12% to $3.32 billion.
The rise in profit was driven by a 43% drop in its credit impairment charge from $720 million a year ago to $4.08 million for the half year to March 31 this year.
Return on equity rose 32 points to 11.9%, while the net interest margin fell 7 points to 1.93% from 2%.
ANZ shares ended April ay $26.84, down 0.07% for the month and 6.6% for the first four months of the year.
The ANZ said the cost to income ratio was 45.0% for the half year, steady on a year ago, based on continuing operations.
The number of full time equivalent employees fell from just over 46,000 to 41,580 after the company sold businesses in 2017. On a continuing basis the number of full time equivalents fell from 44,000 to just over 39,500.
