ANZ has strong positives for economy

ANZ's strong business health has positive flow-on effects for the whole country.

ANZ National's announced a 13 percent increase in profit for the six months to March, compared with the same period last year, taking underlying profit to $684 million for the half year.

Senior lecturer in banking, Claire Matthews says the strong presence of the bank is good news for New Zealand.

"The economy definitely benefits from having the ANZ and the other banks here in terms of they are employing staff, they make use of a whole lot of support services."

The union which represents bank workers, says employees aren't seeing the benefits in their wages.

Ms Matthews says that's a fair expectation.

"If they are making good profits that suggests that their staff are doing a good job and it would be reasonable for the staff to be looking for that to be reflected in their pay packets."

New Zealand chief executive David Hisco says staff operate under bonus schemes which reward strong performers.

"I've had no complaints and I think we've got a very low union membership anyways. I think it's only 10 percent, so I'm not sure whether their comments actually represent the views of our broader staff now."

"Myself and my fellow executives had frozen salaries for this year and last year so no increases for them but people at managerial and below, they've had pay rises," Mr Hisco says.

The bank received the most significant gains on the retail side of its business, with earnings increasing 28.8 percent.

Photo: NZ Herald