The chief executive of ANZ has revealed the company's disappointment with the progress of its wealth division in 2011.
"I'm a little bit disappointed with the progress we have made on the wealth business. I feel we haven't really gone as fast as we should have in that area," Mike Smith told a media briefing yesterday.
"That has obviously been exacerbated by John [Van Der Wielen]'s departure which was a shame, the timing was just very unfortunate. But the good thing is that John has brought in some very very good people and so the management team has really improved significantly."
Van Der Wielen resigned into join United Kingdom-based financial services group Friends Life as its international managing director.
The ANZ wealth arm's net profit after tax (NPAT) fell 16 per cent over the year to 30 September to $345 million and 15 per cent over the six months to 30 September, driven by revenue impacts from volatile market conditions, ANZ said in its 2011 full-year report.
The wealth division includes OnePath superannuation and ANZ Private, as well as investments and insurance.
Funds under management (FUM) at its OnePath financial advice and wealth division shed 8 per cent and FUM at its online brokerage ETrade slid 10 per cent over the second half.
However, ANZ said its program for affluent customers was gaining momentum, with nearly 5000 customers over the past five months.
It said the program's average advice fee had nearly doubled to $1510 and the average risk premium had risen 70 per cent to $2260.
Growth in retail insurance income was offset by higher general insurance claims due to 'catastrophic' weather events, ANZ also noted.
ANZ's group net profit after tax climbed 19 per cent to $5.36 billion and its full-year dividend rose 11 per cent to $1.40 a share.
