Results Highlights

Profitability (before abnormal item)

			Quarter to		Half-Year to		Half-Year
		March	December	March	March	March	Change
		1998	1997	1997	1998	1997	%
	Major contributions (after goodwill)
	Australian Group				589	721	(18.3)
	European Group				318	215	47.9
	New Zealand Group				101	113	(10.6)
	United States Group				80	75	6.7
	Asian Group				21	15	40.0
	Group operating profit	576	533	557	1,109	1,139	(2.6)
	Underlying profit	994	949	895	1,943	1,855	4.7
	Net interest income	1,380	1,385	1,276	2,765	2,592	6.7
	Non interest income	1,070	928	800	1,998	1,613	23.9
	Non interest expenses	1,412	1,327	1,145	2,739	2,279	20.2
	Goodwill amortisation	44	37	36	81	71	14.1
	Charge for doubtful debts	148	120	66	268	105	large
	Abnormal items - Restructuring costs (pre tax)	(212)	(17)	-	(229)	-	-

Balance Sheet

			March	December	September	March	March/Sept
			1998	1997	1997	1997	Change %
	Shareholders' equity		13,529	13,883	12,581	13,397	7.5
	Total assets		233,182	229,441	201,969	189,199	15.5
	Risk weighted assets		180,208	171,411	154,309	142,806	16.8
	Gross loans and advances		148,640	147,493	133,391	122,894	11.4
	Total net loans, advances and acceptances		167,417	164,805	150,398	138,684	11.3
	Total deposits		146,673	141,988	128,469	120,476	14.2
	Non-accrual loans, net of specific provisions		709	644	706	778	0.4

Dividends

					March	March
					1998	1997
	Interim dividend declared: fully franked				49c	45c
	Interim dividend payout ratio - before abnormal items				63.1%	59.3%
	Dividend coverage ratio no. of times - before abnormal items				1.58	1.69
	All figures are in A$ millions unless otherwise stated.

Performance Measurements

				Quarter to		Half-Year to
			March	December	March	March	March
			1998	1997	1997	1998	1997
	Earnings
	Basic earnings per share - before abnormal items		40.3c	37.7c	37.4c	77.9c	76.8c
	after abnormal items		30.5c	36.9c	37.4c	67.3c	76.8c
	Diluted earnings per share - before abnormal items		39.4c	36.8c	36.8c	76.1c	75.7c
	after abnormal items		30.1c	36.1c	36.8c	66.1c	75.7c
	Basic earnings per share - pre goodwill and abnormal items		43.4c	40.3c	39.8c	83.6c	81.5c
	Return on average assets					0.9%	1.3%
	Return before goodwill and abnormal items on average assets					1.1%	1.3%
	Return on average shareholders' funds					14.3%	17.2%
	Return before goodwill and abnormal items on average shareholders' funds					17.8%	18.3%
	Underlying profit per full time equivalent employee (to nearest A$)					$81,959	$78,824
	Operating profit (before abnormals) per full time equivalent employee (to nearest A$)					$46,779	$48,399
	Net Interest Income
	Group net interest spread					2.5%	2.9%
	Group net interest margin					3.1%	3.6%
	Non Interest Income
	Non interest income to total net income		43.7%	40.1%	38.5%	41.9%	38.4%
	Non interest income per full time equivalent employee (to nearest A$)					$84,279	$68,541
	Non Interest Expenses (excl goodwill abnormal items)
	Cost/income ratio		57.6%	57.4%	55.2%	57.5%	54.2%
	Operating costs to total assets		2.4%	2.4%	2.4%	2.4%	2.4%
	Operating costs per full time equivalent employee (to nearest A$)					$115,535	$96,841
	Bad and Doubtful Debts
	Specific provision charge to operating profit					17.3%	6.1%
	Specific provision balance to total assets					0.3%	0.3%
	Specific provision balance to risk weighted assets					0.4%	0.4%
	Specific provision balance to total non accrual loans					50.1%	44.5%
	Capital
	Tier 1 ratio					5.8%	7.8%
	Tier 2 ratio					3.0%	2.5%
	Deductions					(0.3%)	(0.2%)
	Total capital ratio					8.5%	10.1%
	Asset Quality
	Gross non-accrual loans to gross loans and acceptances					0.8%	1.0%
	Net non-accrual loans to risk weighted assets					0.4%	0.5%
	Shares
	Net tangible asset backing per share					$7.25	$7.51
	Weighted average shares on issue					1,423,412	1,483,342