Results Highlights

Profitability

		Quarter to			Full Year to		Full
		Sept	June	Sept	Sept	Sept	Year Change
		1998	1998	1997	1998	1997	%
	Major Contributions (before goodwill and abnormal items)
	Australian Financial Services				1,403	1,297	8.2
	Clydesdale Bank				286	211	35.5
	Northern Bank				169	119	42.0
	Yorkshire Bank				344	227	51.5
	National Irish Bank				33	33	-
	Bank of New Zealand				280	297	(5.7)
	Michigan National Corporation				226	222	1.8
	HomeSide Inc.				92	-	-
	Asian Group				46	28	64.3
	Group operating profit before abnormal items	783	619	580	2,511	2,223	13.0
	Underlying Profit	1,196	1,156	893	4,295	3,648	17.7
	Net Interest Income	1,565	1,475	1,379	5,858	5,358	9.3
	Non Interest Income	1,148	1,060	793	3,953	2,909	35.9
	Non interest expenses	1,467	1,329	1,243	5,335	4,477	19.2
	Goodwill amortisation	50	50	36	181	142	27.5
	Charge for doubtful debts	102	202	105	572	332	72.3
	Abnormal items - (pre tax)	(508)	(12)	-	(749)	-	-

Balance Sheet

		As at				Full Year
		Sept	June	March	Sept	Change
		1998	1998	1998	1997	%
	Shareholder's Equity	15,764	14,672	13,529	12,581	25.3
	Total assets	251,714	247,042	233,182	201,969	24.6
	Risk weighted assets	199,476	194,057	180,208	154,309	29.3
	Gross loans and advances	164,062	158,572	148,927	133,634	22.8
	Total net loans, advances and acceptances	182,354	176,101	167,704	150,641	21.1
	Total deposits	158,084	153,761	146,673	128,469	23.1
	Non-accrual loans, net of specific provisions	1,067	829	709	706	51.1

Dividends

		September	September
		1998	1997
	Final dividend declared: fully franked	53c	49c
	Annual dividend declared: fully franked	102c	94c
	Annual dividend payout ratio - before abnormal items	58.4%	61.5%
	Dividend coverage ratio no. of times - before abnormal items	1.71	1.63

Performance Measurements

		Quarter to			Full Year to
		Sept	June	Sept	Sept	Sept
		1998	1998	1997	1998	1997
	Earnings
	Basic earnings per share - before abnormal items	53.8c	43.2c	39.8c	174.6c	151.6c
	- after abnormal items	30.3c	42.6c	39.8c	140.0c	151.6c
	Diluted earnings per share - before abnormal items	52.0c	42.1c	38.8c	170.6c	148.7c
	- after abnormal items	30.0c	41.6c	38.8c	137.9c	148.7c
	Basic earnings per share - pre goodwill & abnormal items	57.2c	46.7c	42.3c	187.3c	161.3c
	Return on average assets				0.8%	1.2%
	Return before goodwill & abnormal items on average assets				1.1%	1.2%
	Return on average shareholders' funds				14.3%	16.7%
	Return before goodwill & abnormal items on average shareholders' funds				19.2%	17.8%
	Underlying profit per full time equivalent employee (to nearest A$)				$92,765	$78,583
	Operating profit (before abnormals) per full time equivalent employee (to nearest A$)				$54,233	$47,887
	Net Interest Income
	Group net interest spread				2.6%	2.8%
	Group net interest margin				3.1%	3.5%
	Non Interest Income
	Non interest income to total net income	42.3%	41.8%	36.5%	40.3%	35.2%
	Non interest income per full time equivalent employee (to nearest A$)				$85,378	$62,664
	Non Interest Expenses (excl goodwill & abnormal items)
	Cost/income ratio	54.1%	52.4%	57.2%	54.4%	54.2%
	Operating costs to total assets	2.3%	2.2%	2.5%	2.1%	2.2%
	Operating costs per full time equivalent employee (to nearest A$)				$115,227	$96,441
	Bad and Doubtful Debts
	Specific provision charge to operating profit				21.0%	11.3%
	Specific provision balance to total assets				0.2%	0.3%
	Specific provision balance to risk weighted assets				0.2%	0.4%
	Specific provision balance to total non-accrual loans				28.6%	46.4%
	Capital
	Tier 1 ratio				6.4%	6.8%
	Tier 2 ratio				3.1%	2.2%
	Deductions				(0.3%)	(0.3%)
	Total capital ratio				9.2%	8.7%
	Asset Quality
	Gross non-accrual loans to gross loans and acceptances				0.8%	0.8%
	Net non-accrual loans to risk weighted assets				0.5%	0.5%
	Shares
	Net tangible asset backing per share				$8.75	$7.40
	Weighted average shares on issue				1,433,616	1,465,771

All figures are in A$ millions unless otherwise stated.