By Alice Uribe

SYDNEY--Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. reported a 20% rise in interim profit as the lender increased its home loan processing times in Australia, and grew its New Zealand mortgage business.

The Australian lender on Wednesday said its net profit rose to 3.53 billion Australian dollars (US$2.51 billion) in the six months through March.

Cash earnings--a measure closely tracked by analysts that strips out non-core items such as revenue hedges and treasury shares--rose by 4% to A$3.11 billion. When measured only using continuing operations, ANZ's cash profit was also A$3.11 billion.

The bank declared a final dividend of A$0.72 per share, compared with A$0.70 a year earlier.

Consensus forecasts compiled by FactSet projected ANZ's first-half profit would be A$2.96 billion, with an interim dividend of A$0.71 per share.

ANZ's Common Equity Tier 1 capital ratio--a key measure of a bank's ability to withstand financial shocks--was 11.5%.


Write to Alice Uribe at alice.uribe@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

05-03-22 1802ET