ANZ Bank chief executive Shayne Elliott says the bank will not step back from a mortgage market that is the most competitive he has seen, despite home lending becoming a far less profitable business for Australia’s banking giants.
As ANZ delivered half-year results on Friday, which showed cash profits hit $3.8 billion in the six months to March, a focal point for investors is how retail banking profitability is performing amid growing competition in home loans.
Profits in the March half have been pushed sharply higher by rising interest rates, but investors are debating whether this is as good as it gets for banks, which are being forced to compete harder to win home loan customers, while fighting to attract deposits.