Just a quarter of the current financial year has passed for three of the four major Australian banks, and two of them are already paying NZ$593 million as a dividend. ANZ New Zealand has resolved to pay a dividend of $430 million before the end of March, while Bank of New Zealand had already paid out $163 million before December 2010. While all the four banks are well-placed in terms of capital, dividends have always been a contentious issue.  Last month, the New Zealand finance sector union, Finsec, accused Australian banks of leaving New Zealand customers and staff out in the cold, while sharing their profits very generously with highly paid CEOs and Australian shareholders. ANZ's dividend will be the second in around six months, as the bank paid out $600 million during the September quarter. This was its lone dividend for the full September 2010 year. The year before, the bank had paid a whopping $1 billion in dividends. BNZ paid a dividend of $563 million during the September 2010 year, out of which $200 million was paid during the December 2009 quarter. Westpac NZ paid no dividend during the September 2010 year and has so far paid no dividend this year. ASB paid out a $160 million dividend during the financial year ended June 2010, but said the dividend was paid to its New Zealand holding company and nothing was paid to its parent, Commonwealth Bank. It said this reflected its commitment to New Zealand. ANZ's dividend follows a net profit of $258 million, made in the three-month period to December 2010, was up slightly, from $243 million, the year before. BNZ posted a net profit of $150 million, down sharply from $271 million the previous year.