ANZ doubles size of share buyback

Australia and New Zealand Banking Group announced on Friday that it would increase its current on-market share buy-back, which started on 15 January, by a further AUD 1.5bn (£0.84bn) to a total of AUD 3bn.

The bank, which has its primary listings on Sydney’s ASX and Wellington’s NZX, said the decision followed its announcement on 8 May that it had received around AUD 1bn of reinsurance proceeds as part of the first tranche of the sale of its Australian Life Insurance business, and was considering capital management options.

“The progress of our transformation means we are able to return this surplus capital to shareholders while retaining appropriate flexibility to invest in our business and maintain unquestionably strong capital levels,” said ANZ’s chief financial officer Michelle Jablko.

The bank’s reported Level 2 Common Equity Tier 1 capital (CET1) ratio as at 31 March was 11.04%.

It said that would increase by around 56 basis point on a pro forma basis, after adjusting for completion of the buy-back, receipt of the reinsurance proceeds and completion of announced asset sales.