AUSTRALIA’S ANZ Group said on Monday (Feb 12) its first-quarter group revenue was in line with the quarterly average of first-half fiscal 2023 revenue, driven by its institutional division’s markets business, lifting shares to their highest in 22 months.

Shares of the Melbourne-listed lender rose nearly 1 per cent to A$27.93, as of 2320 GMT, to hit their highest levels since Apr 21, 2022; as against the broader benchmark’s 0.3 per cent drop.

Surging demand for its institutional banking services pushed Australia’s fourth-biggest lender to post a record annual profit last year, as it benefited from a payments platform that processes big cross-border transactions. “The institutional division’s markets business had a good start to the year with revenues a little better than the first half FY2023 average of A$575 million (S$504.8 million),” the Melbourne-listed company said in a statement.

It also added that its lending growth across its Australian retail and consumer franchises were robust, fueled by customer deposits, and is continuing to boost Australian home loan book profits.

ANZ Group added A$8 billion in customer deposits across its retail and commercial divisions in Australia, even as its institutional deposits fell by A$3 billion.

The bank’s first-quarter revenue was in line with the quarterly average of the previous fiscal year’s first half of A$5.26 billion, the company said in a limited quarterly update that did not provide a profit number.

GET BT IN YOUR INBOX DAILY

Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox.

Sign UpVIEW ALL

“Q1 FY2024 group revenue was in line with the H1 FY2023 quarterly average and consequently slightly better than we expected,” analysts from Citi said in a client note.

“This will be received as an in-line disclosure given the share price rally into the result and generally benign financials,” the analysts said.

However, the bank’s common equity tier 1 ratio fell to 13.1 per cent at the end of December 2023, compared with 13.3 per cent at the end of September 2023. REUTERS