The Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ASX: ANZ) share price performed relatively well in September.
Last month, ANZ shares slipped into the green by a whisker, up 0.71%. The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) fell by 5.43%, so ANZ beat the index by some margin.
It did better than its major ASX 200 bank share peers too. The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) share price fell by 5.5%, the National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX: NAB) share price declined 4.9% and the Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC) share price dropped 2.78%.
Does this return reflect longer-term trends?
When looking over 2022 to date, however, the returns are a bit different for the banks.
Since the start of 2022, the Westpac share price is down less than 5%, and NAB shares have fallen by around 2%.
Shares in CBA are trading 11% lower over the period, while the ANZ share price is down a hefty 18%.
The ASX 200 has also shown a significant drop but its 14.7% loss is still lower than the ANZ bank.
So, it seems that ANZ shares may have treaded water in September, but other banks have dropped less in the broader year-to-date period.
Have there been any positives for the ANZ share price this year?
Share markets are typically forward-looking, so has there been anything positive announced by the big bank recently?
The FY22 third quarter update had some positive aspects to it.
ANZ CEO Shayne Elliott said the three months to June 2022 was a "pleasing quarter" where all of its businesses "performed", particularly the home loan business in Australia.
ANZ said that its quarterly revenue was up 5%. It explained that through adding operational capacity and "processing resilience".
The bank also advised that the overall net interest margin (NIM) increased 3 basis points for the quarter and the underlying NIM went up 6 basis points to 164 basis points. Margins improved across all businesses, according to ANZ.
This was "largely driven by the impact of rising rates, partly offset by intense price competition in the home lending portfolios in Australia and New Zealand. With interest rates projected to increase further in coming months, this is expected to be supportive for margins in the fourth quarter."
ANZ also noted that costs across the ASX 200 bank share remain "tightly managed", with run-the-bank costs expected to be "broadly flat" for the second half, despite inflation pressures.
What next for the ANZ share price?
ANZ is due to hand in its full-year result on 27 October 2022, so investors will get a good look at how the business performed for the 12 months to 30 September 2022.
It will be interesting to see how investors react to ANZ shares as the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) continues to increase interest rates.
