ANZ bank after-tax profit up 3% to 3.5bn AUD

The Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) on Tuesday announced a rise of 3 percent in profit after tax in the first half of 2015 and is confident of maintaining the momentum despite challenges ahead.

ANZ's statutory profit after tax increased 3 percent to 3.5 billion Australian dollars (2.7 billion U.S. dollars) against the prior comparable period, while cash profit boosted 5 percent to 3. 7 billion Australian dollars(2.9 billion U.S. dollars), according to the bank's latest media release.

Mike Smith, ANZ Chief Executive said the bank delivered good financial performance given the difficult operating environment and attributed the profit partially to domestic markets in Australia and New Zealand which have again delivered strong growth and returns.

"This is a good, well balanced financial performance with solid progress made in reshaping our business in response to the more challenging macro-environment." He said in the media release.

The CEO also warned the challenging macro-conditions the bank will be facing and said the bank will benefit from its strategy of growing its geographic foot print in both Australia and Asia.

"For the foreseeable future, we will be operating in a lower growth environment in which there will continue to be occasional volatility and shocks," he said.

"We are responding by increasing the pace of execution of our Super Regional strategy within International and Institutional Banking so we continue to improve returns from the franchise while benefiting from growth opportunities in Asia."