Banks Report Card 2016

Over the last week, investors had a wild ride with bank reporting season, compounded by a somewhat surprising rate cut on Tuesday. Tuesday’s share price moves in ANZ Bank were some of the wildest I have seen over the past 18 years of covering companies. ANZ opened down -4% as investors were dismayed by the headline numbers before finishing up +5.6% on the back of a strong performance at the results presentation by CEO Elliot and a 0.25% cut in the rate at 2:30 pm. These are very unusual intraday moves for a company with a market capitalisation over $70 billion. The 1.75% interest rate represents the lowest official cash rate in Australia since James Cook turned up at Botany Bay in April 1770. In this piece we are going to look at the common themes emerging from the banks’ results, differentiate between them and hand out our reporting season awards to the financial intermediaries that grease the wheels of Australian capitalism.