27 Oct 2006

ANZ's Pacific profit soars

10:39 am on 27 October 2006

The Australia and New Zealand Banking Group has announced a record profit of 87-point-5 million US dollars for its Pacific operations.

The Fiji Times reports the result is for the 12 months ending on September 30 and is a 26% increase on the profit for the previous financial year

The ANZ's managing director Pacific, Mike Querin, is quoted as saying the profit was based on the underlying strength of Pacific economies and market share gains in a number of countries including Fiji, Papua New Guinea and American Samoa.

The ANZ employs over 1,600 staff in the Pacific.