Using Oracle SP to get data

Question

Hello,
We have a simple need to load all data from a master table into an object in Java. We have written a simple query in Oracle and created a SP with a Ref_Cursor to return the data like below. The underlying table has 500,000+ records. If I run the select query by itself, the data is returned in a few seconds. However, if I call the SP below, it takes more than an hour to execute. Can you please advise if my approach is wrong in using a RefCursor and how to get this data back in an efficient way.
CREATE OR REPLACE Procedure GetListOfAccounts (p_cursor OUT SYS_REFCURSOR)
IS
v_code NUMBER := 0;
BEGIN
open p_cursor for
SELECT DISTINCT
AM.ACNUMBER
, AM.ACNAME
, AM.ACCITY
, AM.ACSTATE
, AM.ACPHONE
, AM.ACTYPE
from
ACCOUNTMASTER AM;
EXCEPTION
WHEN OTHERS THEN
v_code := SQLCODE;
END;
Thank you.

Answer 1

I ran the statistics using only 10000 rows. I got the select result back within 3-4 seconds to the screen and I scrolled through the records to see the entire recordset. However the StoredProc for the same took about 1.5 minutes. Thus I do believe the cursor does make it slow.
I notice that the cursor returns the data about 100 rows every second.
This process is supposed to run only once a day - but still - its not acceptable that it takes 2 hours to load that data into the object... Please advise as to how to do this.