Iran war’s drag on economy dampens ANZ profit to $1.23b
Friday, 1 May 2026
ANZ has reported a net profit after tax of $1.238 billion for the six months to 31 March 2026, down from $1.28 billion in the same period last year.
The bank’s chief executive, Antonia Watson, said the result was “solid”, but the world faced heightened global uncertainty.
“Prior to the war in Iran, New Zealand was in the early stages of economic recovery,” she said.
“Confidence was beginning to return as lower interest rates flowed through to customers, with higher commodity prices and strong farm‑gate returns supporting the farming sector and rural economy.”
Economic activity in the six months to the end of March had seen a lift, with the bank recording increases in loans and deposits.
Despite the pressure of high fuel prices following the US war on Iran that has disrupted the global oil trade, households and businesses were showing resilience, and that had kept the economy from tanking.
“Strengthened balance sheets and savings across households, businesses, and farms helped support spending and investment,” Watson said.
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“Encouragingly, customers across households, businesses and farms enter this period in a more resilient position,” Watson said.
“Through the recent interest rate cycle, many home loan customers refixing at lower rates chose to keep their repayments the same, or increased them, to pay off their loan faster.”
It has become common in recent years for banks to report on how many home loan borrowers are “ahead” on their home loans, a figure which records how many borrowers were ahead of where they expected to be when they first took out their home loans.
“More than 44% of home loan customers are ahead on repayments by six months or more and 48% hold a savings buffer of at least $5000,” Watson said.
Businesses and farms in stronger agricultural sectors had also continued to pay down debt and re-build savings, she said.
“This resilience supported broader economic improvement in the first half of the year, with stronger confidence and activity, particularly in the South Island,” she said.
“Export sectors and the wider rural economy were buoyed by higher commodity prices and, more recently, the Fonterra capital return. However, 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,” she said.
However, ANZ made modest increases to its provisioning for bad debts.
“Events in the Middle East are a reminder of how quickly global shocks can ripple through our economy and undermine what remains a fragile recovery,” Watson said.
“The economic outlook remains uncertain, and our focus is on maintaining the strength of the bank and supporting customers and the wider economy as challenges emerge,” she said.
ANZ in New Zealand is part of the ASX sharemarket-listed ANZ banking group.
It announced a cash profit of A$3.78b for the first half of its financial year, a 14% increase in the same period in its last financial year.
Nuno Matos, chief executive for the entire ANZ banking group in Australia and New Zealand, said that was the result of its having simplified its operations.
“Our actions to reset the bank are working, but we have more to do,” he said.
And, so far, he said ANZ had not seen anything except a “minimal” impact from the ongoing fuel crisis on its customers’ ability to repay their loans.
ANZ in New Zealand reported good progress in migrating its core banking system to a cloud‑based platform.
“This is a significant investment that will support industry‑leading technology and enable us to continue delivering practical banking solutions for our customers,” Watson said.