On Antonia Watson

ANZ chief executive Antonia Watson says the bank's customers have gotten used to uncertainty. Antonia Watson has emerged this Saturday as one of the stories drawing attention in New Zealand.

Key facts

• ANZ chief executive Antonia Watson says the bank's customers have gotten used to uncertainty.
• ANZ New Zealand (ANZ) chief executive Antonia Watson is keeping tabs on how the combination of higher inflation, interest rates and fuel costs will bite the bank’s customers.
• Watson didn’t believe it was necessary, at this stage, for the Government to underwrite bank loans to businesses, as the Australian Government is and the New Zealand Government did during the Covid-19 pandemic.
• “Our customers have been pretty used to uncertainty,” Watson said.
• Agri sector strength limits increase in provisions for expected credit losses.

What we know

Going deeper, ANZ New Zealand (ANZ) chief executive Antonia Watson is keeping tabs on how the combination of higher inflation, interest rates and fuel costs will bite the bank’s customers.

On the substance, Watson didn’t believe it was necessary, at this stage, for the Government to underwrite bank loans to businesses, as the Australian Government is and the New Zealand Government did during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Beyond the headlines, Agri sector strength limits increase in provisions for expected credit losses.

More precisely, Hence, while Watson is concerned New Zealand is staring at another period of uncertainty at a time the economic recovery is still fragile, ANZ hasn’t increased its provisions for expected credit losses by much.

It is worth noting that Speaking to the Herald, Watson said while ANZ increased provisions to account for the conflict, which escalated at the end of its last reporting period to March, it reduced provisions for credit losses related to the agricultural sector.

By the numbers

At this stage, At $805 million at the end of March, its provisions were $3m higher than at the end of the prior six months.

On a related note, they were also $33m below the level at the end of March 2025.

Going deeper, more than 44% of home loan customers were ahead on repayments by six months or more, and 48% held a savings buffer of at least $5000.

On the substance, Sector-wide data gathered by the Reserve Bank shows banks’ non-performing housing loans ratio rose from 0.2% pre-pandemic to a peak of 0.7% in early to mid-2025, thanks to a period of high interest rates and negative growth.

What they're saying

“Our customers have been pretty used to uncertainty,” Watson said.

“If you think about good customer outcomes, it’s just not a good thing to do when interest rates are a little bit higher,” she said, acknowledging this type of support was still available for customers who needed it.

The wider context

On a related note, Watson didn’t believe ANZ needed regulatory support to enable it to encourage customers struggling to meet their mortgage repayment obligations to defer repayments.

Going deeper, as for banks’ non-performing business loan ratio, this rose from 0.5% pre-2020 to a peak of 1.2% in mid-2025.

On the substance, ANZ reported a statutory profit of $1.26 billion in the six months to March – no change from the previous six months and a 1% decrease from the same period the previous year.

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More precisely, the country’s largest bank isn’t seeing losses related to conflict in the Middle East at the moment.

The bottom line

• They were also $33m below the level at the end of March 2025.
• More than 44% of home loan customers were ahead on repayments by six months or more, and 48% held a savings buffer of at least $5000.
• As for banks’ non-performing business loan ratio, this rose from 0.5% pre-2020 to a peak of 1.2% in mid-2025.