Last checked at 
* Australia's third-biggest lender by market value meetsforecasts
* Warns full year revenue growth will slow compared to lastyear
* Group net interest margin falls two basis points
* Q3 2013 cash earnings of A$1.62 bln
SYDNEY, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Australia and New Zealand BankingGroup Ltd met forecasts with a 12 percent rise inthird-quarter profit as tight cost controls offset slower growthin key markets, but said full-year revenue growth would beslower than last year.
The nation's third-biggest lender by market value said onFriday that group net interest margin, a measure of core bankprofits, fell two basis points.
Excluding its global markets business, ANZ said net interestmargin fell by three basis points in the quarter was expected tofall further in the final quarter of its financial year, hit bypressures including lower interest rates.
"Although the economic outlook in Australia has softenedsomewhat, there is cause for greater optimism in the medium termas the effect of lower interest rates, a more competitivecurrency and the removal of some pre-election uncertaintyunderpin consumer confidence and economic activity," ChiefExecutive Michael Smith said in a statement.
ANZ posted a cash profit of A$4.8 billion ($4.4 billion) forthe nine months to end June, up 11 percent.
Cash earnings for the third quarter of its 2013 financialyear were A$1.62 billion, based on Reuters' calculations,compared to a consensus forecast of A$1.63 billion from fouranalysts.
ANZ switched to a focus on cash earnings, which excludesone-offs and non-cash items and which is closely watched byinvestors, earlier this year to align itself with its peers.
The bank is seeking to position itself as a pan-Asian playerlike HSBC Holdings Plc and Standard Chartered Plc with its "super-regional strategy." It has a goal ofbringing in between 25 and 30 percent of earnings fromAsia-Pacific, Europe and America by 2017.
Those plans have recently been brought into focus aftersources told Reuters Japan's Mizuho Financial Group hadoffered to buy ANZ's 39.2 percent stake in PT Bank Pan Indonesia. ANZ previously declined to comment.
Like its domestic peers, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, National Australia Bank Ltd, and WestpacBanking Corp, ANZ's shares have been driven up thisyear by yield-hungry investors switching out of mining stocks asthe resources boom tapers.
ANZ's shares have risen 21.2 percent so far this calendaryear, outperforming a 10.8 percent gain in the S&P ASX 200benchmark index.
