MELBOURNE, March 6, 2026, 17:43 AEDT
ANZ Group Holdings Limited has brought forward its 2026 half-year results announcement to May 1 from May 7, a March 4 market release showed. 1
The lender also reset its interim dividend timetable: the ex-dividend date is May 11, the record date May 12 and the payment date July 1. 2
The change puts ANZ ahead of National Australia Bank’s May 4 half-year results and Westpac’s May 5 interim results, making it first among the big lenders due to report in early May. That gives investors an earlier read on Chief Executive Nuno Matos’s cost-cut drive before peers report. 2
ANZ also fixed Aug. 13 for its third-quarter trading update and APS 330 release. APS 330 is the Australian prudential disclosure standard that requires banks to publish key information on capital and risk exposures. 2
The calendar change follows ANZ’s unaudited first-quarter trading update, which showed cash profit — the bank’s measure excluding non-core items — of A$1.94 billion for the quarter ended Dec. 31, with revenue up 1%, expenses down 8% and group net interest margin at 1.56%. The bank said there was no change to its fiscal 2026 cost guidance.
Matos said the quarter showed “early progress” on ANZ’s 2030 strategy. “Our productivity program aimed at removing duplication and simplifying the bank is well underway, delivering a significant reduction in expenses while growing revenue,” he said. 3
Those numbers sent ANZ shares as much as 8.25% higher to a record A$40.20 when they were released last month, Reuters reported. Citigroup analyst Thomas Strong said the beat was “largely driven by faster than expected progress on costs” and should be well received given the progress on strategy and signs of an improving macro environment across the sector. 4
But the earlier reporting date does not settle the harder questions. Jefferies analyst Andrew Lyons said the “real test” would be how ANZ manages net interest margin — the spread between what a bank earns on loans and pays for funding — when it gets back to “system housing growth,” meaning home-loan growth in line with the wider market; Reuters said ANZ still has the lowest mortgage market share among the major Australian banks, at about 14%. The lender is also still dealing with regulatory fallout after a federal court in December imposed a A$250 million penalty over a government bond deal and other misconduct, and ASIC Chair Joe Longo said then there were “fundamental issues” with ANZ’s risk and compliance culture that needed urgent board and executive attention. 4
