Asian profits emerge for ANZ

ANZ's collection of minority investments and joint ventures in Asia provided one distinctive element of the bank's 2008 profit, as the only division to report an increase in profit.

The return on average assets in Asia Pacific increased to 1.69 per cent in 2008 from 1.62 per cent in 2007. The ROA in the second half was 1.75 per cent.

The reported profit is not much guide as that now includes a full year of equity accounted earnings for AMMB Holdings in Malaysia and Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank in China. The profit increased 52 per cent to $413 million.

That represents 12 per cent of the bank's (depressed) profit. ANZ has set a target for international earnings of 20 per cent.

 "Asia Partnerships" including all the minority investment and joint ventures lifted its profit by 55 per cent.

Institutional banking in Asia also lifted profit by 55 per cent, though most of this was in the first  half of the year. The bank was widened the lending mandate for this business, managed out of Singapore. A "rerisking" of ANZ (to reverse a favoured phrase of the bank's former CEO) appears to be an important theme to the bank's Asian strategy.