Improving economic conditions help ANZ New Zealand lift 2011 performance

Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ) 2011 full year results were
released today, showing a lift in performance for ANZ New Zealand with underlying profit of
NZ$1.243 billion, up from $882 million in the prior year.

Reflecting the slow improvement of the New Zealand economy, the result was substantially
driven by a significant fall in provisions for bad and doubtful debts down 59 per cent. Tight
cost control, reflecting continued simplification of ANZ New Zealand’s business, was also a
feature of the 2011 result.

“ANZ New Zealand, which includes The National Bank, OnePath, Direct Broking and EFTPOS, had a strong performance this year. This reflects the breadth of the organisation’s activities and the continued popularity of our products and services with New Zealanders and New Zealand businesses,” ANZ New Zealand Chief Executive Officer David Hisco said today.

“The New Zealand economy has continued to re-balance with households and businesses
repaying debt and strengthening their financial position. Strong financial discipline, including tight management of costs and risk, has played an important part in ensuring our financial performance has held up well despite the moderating effect of this de-leveraging on revenue growth.

ANZ New Zealand 2011 Results: Key Points
• Statutory profit of $1,085 million, up by 25% on prior year
• Underlying profit of $1,243 million, up from $882 million in the prior year
• Income up 7%
• Costs tightly managed, down 2%
• Provision for credit impairment charge of $187 million, down $274 million or 59%
• Statutory profit includes an after tax charge of $111 million in relation to the
move to a single core banking system
• Well-capitalised with strong liquidity

“Our performance is particularly pleasing given the difficult trading environment and highly
competitive nature of the New Zealand banking market. 

“One in every two New Zealanders chooses to have a banking relationship with us and our
customer value proposition in New Zealand remains strong across the business. Our efforts
to simplify the business have contributed to a further uplift in customer satisfaction during
the year. This included ANZ being awarded the Sunday Star-Times Canstar Cannex Bank of the Year Award, with The National Bank second.

“Throughout the year the bank and our 9,000 staff have also demonstrated a significant
commitment to supporting the broader New Zealand community,” Mr Hisco said.

• ANZ New Zealand donated a further $1 million to the February earthquake rebuild and
recovery efforts in Canterbury, on top of the $1 million donated following the September
2010 earthquake. In addition, after the February quake ANZ announced a pool of $1
billion for special mortgage lending to help relocate Christchurch homeowners at a
heavily discounted one-year mortgage rate to assist affected residents.

• During 2011 the ANZ New Zealand Staff Foundation, funded by regular contributions
from staff members and matched dollar-for-dollar by the bank, gave nearly $600,000 to
more than 120 charities across New Zealand. In addition, staff donated $365,000 to the
Canterbury appeal which was again matched dollar-for-dollar by the bank.

Mr Hisco added: “We were proud to be a sponsor of Rugby World Cup 2011. It really helped us bring out the NZ in ANZ, and it aligned with our goal to be a successful regional bank and grow our presence in the Asia Pacific region.

“As New Zealand’s largest bank, we will continue to play a key role in supporting our
customers and the broader community through the volatile global environment and
assisting New Zealand’s economic recovery.”