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SYDNEY, May 2 (Xinhua) -- Australian banking giant ANZ has posted strong profits for the first half of the year on Tuesday, after engaging is a divestment process aimed at reshaping their business model.

The bank reported an after-tax first-half statutory profit of 2.9 billion dollars (2.18 billion U.S. dollars), which was a 6-percent increase, while their cash profit stood at 3.4 billion dollars, a 23-percent increase on the comparable period last year.

Chief executive officer of ANZ Shayne Elliott said in a statement obtained by Xinhua on Tuesday, that the strategy that was employed by the bank over the past year was critical to the successful results that they were able to report.

"We also saw significant financial benefits emerging from the strategic and tactical decisions we took in 2016 to simplify the business, improve productivity and increase capital efficiency," Elliott said.

"Our strategy involves a significant reshaping of ANZ's business and I am very pleased to have made significant progress while also producing good results across the Group."

Over the past year, the bank sold off the Retail/Wealth operations in six Asian countries including their recent sale in Vietnam, along with their 20 percent holding in Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank; and reported that this strategy of divestment in order to focus on core business operations will likely bring about an additional 65 to 70 basis points of capital for the full year results in 2017.

"Institutional Total Risk Weighted Assets have reduced by 23 billion dollars during the past 12 months, expenses have fallen 9 percent and returns have increased," Elliott said.

"These results show we are creating a very different bank, one that is consistently producing better outcomes for customers and for shareholders. These are still early days and I am pleased with the significant momentum we have now established in the business."

ANZ announced they will pay 2.3 billion dollars in dividends to shareholders, equating to 80 cents per share fully franked, along with an paying an additional tax liability of 1.4 billion dollars.