Track market-moving stories before they get noisy

Mahjabeen Zaman from ANZ Bank thinks the BOJ will hike rates by 25 bps in its upcoming meeting, but it will be difficult for the BOJ to be more hawkish than other central banks due to fiscal difficulties, which might be disappointing to people who want the yen to strengthen more.

An Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ) logo is displayed in a branch window in Sydney, Australia, September 9, 2025. REUTERS/Hollie Adams Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab

SummaryCompaniesANZ posts quarterly NIM of 1.54%Reports Q3 cash profit of A$1.90 billionANZ echoes peers on slowing mortgage applicationsSYDNEY, Aug 13 (Reuters) - Australian lender ANZ Group (ANZ.AX), opens new tab said on Thursday home loan applications had slumped 12% ‌since the Labor government scrapped lucrative property investment tax concessions, as the bank reported a A$1.9 billion ($1.3 billion) cash earnings for the third quarter.

ANZ, the smallest of Australia's "Big Four" lenders by market capitalisation and mortgage share, became the fourth ​major bank to flag the hit created by the May Budget to residential housing borrowing ​demand.

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The A$1.9 billion profit for the three months to end-June was helped by ⁠a 1 basis point increase in its net interest margin, a key profitability measure, to 1.54% ​during the quarter.

ANZ's shares rose by up to 3.4% early on Thursday, outperforming a 0.4% decline in ​the S&P/ASX200 (.AXJO), opens new tab.

The share price increase was attributed by analysts to ANZ reporting a 3% decline in costs to A$2.75 billion for the quarter, not taking into account a NZ$125 million ($73.3 million) class action settlement.

"We think the market should receive ​well the better performance on costs," Citigroup analyst Thomas Strong said.

ANZ recorded a A$102 million bad-debt charge for ​the quarter, well below analysts' forecasts of up to A$205 million.

The figure helped boost the bank's bottom line as non-performing ‌loans ⁠were stable and did not grow despite three interest rate rises in Australia this year.

Australia's major banks have said home loan applications have fallen between 12% and 20% since the centre-left Labor government abolished some tax breaks on property investment.

Auction clearance rates are at six-year lows and average property prices are down about ​2% over four months, ​according to data from ⁠property consultant Cotality.

Australia's top four banks control more than 70% of the national mortgage market and residential lending is a key driver of earnings for ​the sector.

ANZ said growth in lending and a modest improvement in margins ​supported earnings ⁠during the third quarter, as net interest income, excluding markets, rose 2% from the first-half quarterly average.

Its common equity tier 1 (CET1) ratio, a closely watched measure of spare cash, stood at 12.51% as at June ⁠30.

Jefferies raised ​its 2026 and 2027 earnings-per-share forecasts for ANZ by 2% ​each, while reiterating its "hold" rating, the brokerage said in a client note.

($1 = 1.4160 Australian dollars)

($1 = 1.7065 New Zealand dollars)

Reporting by Scott ​Murdoch in Sydney, Rajasik Mukherjee and Sherin Sunny in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli and Stephen Coates

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab

Scott Murdoch has been a journalist for more than two decades working for Thomson Reuters and News Corp in Australia. He has specialised in financial journalism for most of his career and covers the Australian financial services sector and superannuation. He is based in Sydney.

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Here is how ANZ Group Holdings Limited - Sponsored ADR (ANZGY) and Banco Bradesco (BBD) have performed compared to their sector so far this year.

ANZ's Daniel Hynes says a dramatic drawdown in global crude inventories will finally push markets to understand the reality of the situation, as markets currently assume the Strait of Hormuz will reopen soon, and supply will quickly come back online.