Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ASX:ANZ) has announced underlying profit for the first quarter of $1.48 billion, an increase of 4.1 per cent on the previous corresponding period, in line with the average forecasts of analysts.
Statutory profit after tax for the three months to December was $1.7 billion.
ANZ chief executive Mike Smith says the environment for banking has become significantly more challenging and bank funding costs continue to rise.
ANZ reported a net profit of $5.4 billion in the 2011 financial year.
