ANZ warns of 100 million Australian dollar bad debt jump

Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) is warning its bad debt costs will rise by at least 100 million Australian dollars (75 million U.S. dollars) for the first half of its financial year because of its exposure to the resource industry.

The bank expects its total group credit charge to be a little above 800 million Australian dollars (600.7 million U.S. dollars) for the first half of 2016 due to 'a small number of Australian and multi-national resources related exposures.'

"While the overall credit environment remains broadly stable, we are continuing to see pockets of weakness associated with low commodity prices in the resources sector and in related industries," ANZ Acting Chief Financial Officer Graham Hodges said.

"This is a challenging part of the cycle for these customers with implications for the banking sector as individual circumstances evolve. We are continuing to monitor ANZ's exposures carefully and we will keep investors up-to-date with any changes to the credit outlook," Hodges said.

IG market analyst Angus Nicholson said ANZ almost lost a full 6 percent on Thursday.

"The renewed slide in commodities and the belief that the rally in bank stocks has been overdone all contributed to today's sharp reversal in the sector," Nicholson said.

ANZ will announce its results for the 6 months ending March 31 on May 3. Endit