ANZ Group (ASX:ANZ) has kicked off the 2026 financial year with a robust first-quarter performance, headlined by an unaudited statutory profit of $1.87 billion for the period ended Dec. 31, 2025.
The bank’s preferred metric, cash profit, reached $1.94 billion, representing a 75% surge compared to the quarterly average of the second half of 2025.
The headline growth was largely influenced by the absence of "significant items" that had weighed down previous results.
When stripping out these one-off impacts, the underlying cash profit grew by a more modest but steady 17%.
The performance was fueled by a combination of improved revenue and a sharp 21% reduction in operating expenses, which fell to $2.8 billion.
The bank's cost-to-income ratio improved drastically, dropping over 1,500 basis points to 49.5%.
The lender's balance sheet remains resilient, with the CET1 ratio—a key measure of financial strength—climbing to 12.15%, up 12 basis points from September 2025.
Shareholder returns also saw a marked improvement; the cash return on tangible equity jumped to 11.7%.
On the lending front, ANZ reported steady growth with customer deposits rising 5% to $787 billion, while net loans and advances edged up 1% to $837 billion.
Despite a shifting economic landscape, provision charges remained stable at $0.1 billion, signaling a cautious but stable outlook for the quarters ahead.