{"id":406031,"date":"2026-05-01T03:26:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T03:26:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/406031\/"},"modified":"2026-05-01T03:26:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T03:26:08","slug":"anz-nzs-profit-flat-at-1-3b-in-half-year-bank-ups-provisions-for-bad-debts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/406031\/","title":{"rendered":"ANZ NZ\u2019s profit flat at $1.3b in half year; bank ups provisions for bad debts"},"content":{"rendered":"Furthermore, ANZ put more money aside for credit impairments, as it was wary of the impact conflict in the Middle East could have on the New Zealand economy.<\/p>\n
ANZ NZ chief executive Antonia Watson said, \u201cPrior to the war in Iran, New\u202fZealand was in the early stages of economic recovery.<\/p>\n
\u201cConfidence was beginning to return as lower interest rates flowed through to customers, with higher commodity prices and strong farm\u2011gate returns supporting the farming sector and rural economy.<\/p>\n
\u201cStrengthened balance sheets and savings across households, businesses, and farms helped support spending and investment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Watson noted that 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.<\/p>\n
Export sectors and the wider rural economy were also buoyed by higher commodity prices and, more recently, the Fonterra capital return.<\/p>\n
However, she said the conflict was a reminder of how quickly global shocks could ripple through our economy and \u201cundermine what remains a fragile recovery\u201d.<\/p>\n
She noted higher fuel, fertiliser and freight costs, together with ongoing supply uncertainty, are weighing on rural communities and are expected to influence investment and growth decisions.<\/p>\n
House prices also had a soft start to the year, with the housing market facing weaker confidence in the economic outlook and upward pressure on mortgage rates.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re carefully watching the situation, particularly the combination of inflation, interest rates and fuel costs, which are adding to cost-of-living concerns and denting confidence,\u201d Watson said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe continue to hold credit impairment provisions as a safeguard against future uncertainty, and our capital position – an important measure of a bank\u2019s financial stability – remains very strong.\u201d<\/p>\n
ANZ has a total credit impairment provision balance of $805 million.<\/p>\n
Watson urged anyone struggling financially to contact their bank sooner rather than later, so it could help plan a path through what she hoped would be a temporary situation in terms of the impact of the war. <\/p>\n
Jen\u00e9e Tibshraeny is the Herald\u2018s Wellington business editor, based in the Parliamentary Press Gallery. She specialises in government and Reserve Bank policymaking, economics and banking.<\/p>\n
Stay ahead with the latest market moves, corporate updates, and economic insights by subscribing to our Business newsletter<\/a> \u2013 your essential weekly round-up of all the business news you need.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Furthermore, ANZ put more money aside for credit impairments, as it was wary of the impact conflict in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":406032,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[209114,161215,3017,12465,1975,15435,1643,48039,138,12625,9639,2082,71,2964,78,10527,19133,5342,1535,3234,130,111,139,69,3272,36200,34293,5340,5349,121795,15267,666,165,28175,379,80],"class_list":["post-406031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-13b","tag-absorb","tag-ahead","tag-anz","tag-at","tag-bad","tag-bank","tag-borrowers","tag-business","tag-debts","tag-flat","tag-for","tag-from","tag-half","tag-in","tag-loans","tag-looking","tag-losses","tag-march","tag-months","tag-more","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-nzs","tag-potentially","tag-preparing","tag-profit","tag-provisions","tag-repay","tag-reported","tag-struggling","tag-their","tag-ups","tag-year","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406031","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=406031"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406031\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/406032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=406031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=406031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=406031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}