ANZ Share Price Climbs 8%, Delivers $1.94 Billion Cash Profit After Job Cuts

The stock of Australia’s second-largest bank by assets shot to record high on Thursday. ANZ share price jumped by 8.25% to A$40.20 after posting its 2026 first quarter trading update showing an unaudited statutory profit of $1.87 billion and a cash profit of $1.94 billion for the three months ending in December 31, 2025. Financial Highlights The cash profit is up by 75% from the 2025 second-half quarterly average. Excluding the impact of significant items, the increase is 17%. The bank said that its cost-cutting efforts and stronger revenue largely contributed to the reported gains. Customer deposits increased $39 billion, up by 5%, over the quarter. Loans also rose $8 billion, up 1%. Meanwhile, ANZ’s operating expenses is $2.8 billion, down by 21% from the second-half quarterly average. This slashes the bank’s cost-to-income ratio by 49.5%. Overview of Financial Performance. Source: ANZ 3,500 Job Cuts Under New CEO ANZ reported big gains amid CEO Nuno Matos’s efforts to overhaul the bank. After joining ANZ last year, the executive ordered changes that include terminating 3,500 jobs and 1,000 contractor roles. He also introduced a $560 million restructuring charge and announced ending projects that are not aligned to the bank’s priorities. ”I hate to do this but it's for the future of the company,” Matos said of the job cuts, according to Reuters. ”Those decisions are very tough to take. We don't want to take them because they're going to impact people, our people, their families, and it should be the last resort.” More than 60% of the 3,500 affected employees exited the bank by the end of December 2025. “Our productivity program aimed at removing duplication and simplifying the bank is well underway, delivering a significant reduction in expenses while growing revenue. There was an improvement across our key financial metrics, including the return on tangible equity which rose to 11.7% and cost to income ratio to below 50%.” Matos said that the quarterly result highlights the bank’s early progress in executing its 2030 strategy, which includes addressing redundancy in the organization.