The Australia and New Zealand Banking Group improved its first-half profit to 36 per cent to almost $2 billion as it became the third biggest bank in the State to benefit from the recovery in Australia and in Asia.

ANZ booked its net profit from last quarter's 1.419 billion to $1.925 billion for the last six months until March 31st of this year.

ANZ's latest performance in its operations, excluding its non-core businesses that were sold or shut down, produced $2.29 billion.

Mick Smith of ANZ said the bank was profiting due to the improvement of the economies in the region.

"The backdrop to our improving business performance is a considerably better outlook for provisions which reflects the strength of the economic recovery particularly in Australia and Asia," Mr Smith stated.

The bank also stated its credit damage went down to 23 per cent to $1.098 billion since last year.

Its basic earnings per share was 16 per cent to 76.8 cents, same with last year.

ANZ also verified its first half dividend of 52 per cent per share, which is an increase from the 46 cents a year earlier.

The company's margins also rose to 2.68 per cent unlike the preceding half. Its customer deposits also increased to 2 per cent while lending results were flat.

Wim Steemers, a Sydney-based analyst of Macquarie Funds Group, said ANZ will focus on its margins and its pressures on the cost of funding for the next 12 months.

Mr. Smith said the Asian region and Australia were faring better than the US and Europe and added that recovery from the global crisis will not happen very smoothly.

Mr. Smith still expressed his worries about the global financial crisis, stating that it is a major concern around the world and in the domestic economies.