24 February 2003 12:00am

For all the flap earlier this month over ANZ's exposure never confirmed in any detail to the barely solvent El Paso energy combine of Texas, it looks like the bank has its wholesale loans in hand.

The bank said that credit quality overall continues to improve, that specific provisions for 2002 would be below 2003, that provisions for international investment banking (for example, including El Paso) have peaked, and that the charge for bad and doubtful debts expensed in the March 2003 may decline as a percentage of lending assets.