SYDNEY, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Australia and New Zealand Banking Group ANZ.AX (ANZ) missed expectations with a 18 percent fall in annual cash profit and said it would look to sell its Australian life insurance, advice and investments business following a strategic review.
ANZ reported a cash profit of A$5.9 billion ($4.52 billion)for the year ended Sept. 30 on Thursday, down from A$7.2 billion a year earlier. The cash profit figure excludes one-offs and non-cash accounting items.
The result was below an average estimate of a 15 percent fall in cash profit from 16 analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. ($1 = 1.3063 Australian dollars)