Mortgage volume up on tighter margins

The Personal division for ANZ recorded a growth of 11 per cent in profit to $719 million, with revenue also up 11 per cent for the 12 months to March 2008.

There was a three per cent profit decline in mortgages, hurt by narrow margins thanks to the credit crunch. Since mortgages represents a quarter of personal profit, that damaged the division's overall performance.

The ANZ Australian mortgage book increased by 13 per cent over 12 months, a little better than the Reserve Bank's estimate of 11.4 per cent system growth.
 
New Zealand mortgage growth in a higher interest environment increased eleven per cent for the year to NZ$45.4 billion.

Mike Smith, ANZ chief executive officer, told reporters the bank had more work to do, to "strategically build up our retail deposit base".

Provision for Personal credit impairment though was down slightly to $188 million, with arrears largely under control.