September 9, 2025 • 33 mins
ANZ's New Zealand boss says the bank has no major restructure plans on this side of the Tasman.
The Australian banking group has announced plans to axe about 3,500 in-house roles and 1000 contractors.
Its New Zealand arm says about 20-30 mostly head-office roles might be cut here.
But Chief Executive Antonia Watson told Kerre Woodham it's part of a normal review of efficiencies, which they do every year.
She says times of change always generate nervousness, but they've been clear that what's driving the change in Australia isn't a factor here.
She says staff will have a lot of empathy for their Australian colleagues who are going through a tough time at the moment.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Kerry Wood and Morning's podcast from
News Talk sad B.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Now joined this hour, as I mentioned by Antonio Watson,
a and z's CEO, and a very good morning to you. Antonio,
good morning, carry thank you for having me. Absolutely, if
you are going to take questions on banking related matters,
you don't necessarily just need to hear from A and
SD customers no banking related matters. You can text through
your question now on nine two, niney two, or you
(00:33):
can call on eight hundred eighty ten eighty. There's a
lot to cover off. Maybe we'll talk about the capital
gains text. You made quite a few ripples when you
thought that the time had arrived for a capital gains
text on realized gains in twenty twenty four. Do you
(00:55):
still believe that? Do you still maintain that now?
Speaker 3 (00:59):
No one was more surprised than me about the ripples,
And what I was responding to was a question about
do you support a wealth or a tech capital gains
Teik and I do not support a wealth tax, an
un a tax on money that people don't have in
the bank is not fair. I've traditionally not supported capital
gains for two reasons, very complex, high compliance costs. You know,
lots of works for accountants and lawyers. I can say
(01:19):
that I was an accountant, But I think as time
has moved on and you think about it from an
economic sense, it's fair. It is fair to tax people
on all forms of income.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Including the profits they may make on a family home
or just on investment property.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
I think investments and investment and not just property. But
family home is very traditionally carved out because they still
need to buy a new home in the same market.
So you can't take a haircut on a home when
you sell it.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Yeah, so it would only be investments, but investments across
the board.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
Yeah, I think.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
So what about businesses?
Speaker 3 (01:57):
That's really complex, And that's what I mean about it.
It's complex. But you know a big part of my
retirement savings will be earnings from income that i I've
been taxed on. A big part of my parents' retirement
savings was selling a business. So there are you do
need to think about things equitably. I think it doesn't
mean I have the solutions. I think actually it's way
more than capital gains. We need to think about our
(02:19):
tax system across the board and the looming aging population.
There's a lot of things. I think just an honest
com I don't have the answers. I just think it
honest conversation. It would be a good thing to have.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
People are really resistant to seeing a cut to their
super I've noticed on this show, you know, people are like,
I haven't got the souper yet a few years away.
But if I don't need it, why would I apply
for it?
Speaker 3 (02:48):
I guess if you don't need it, the reason you'd
apply for it is that you would think that you
could spend the money better than the government. And I
think that's a fair thing for people to.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
Think, like you could make a donation in your own
way or yeah, I get you.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Know, I guess. And but again I think that we
there are going to be two working New Zealanders for
everyone supernuitant in the not too distant future. I think
it's in twenty four.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
And there used to be four or five.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
Yes, and so that's a lot of If you think
about your children and your grandchildren, that's a lot of
pensioners they will be supporting in the future. And you
know that something needs to be thought about in that context.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Well, it has in terms of the Superannuation Fund, which
is coming up to what they say, one hundred billion dollars. Yes,
that's a phenomenal amount of money. Is that going to
be enough to offset the.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
Costs based on the demographic Look, I'm no expert, but
at least we've got that and the superfund's done a
terrific job of stewarding those assets over a number of years.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
We've also got the health costs because it's not just
the super is it. So Yeah, it's interesting, isn't it that?
But I guess when you are the CEO of a
bank and you do make a call on that, it
is going to get attention. I mean possibly if you
were one of your amazing dollars, it wouldn't have got
quite the same attention the CEO of a bank it will.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Yes, And interestingly it was well, she's just playing her
own book because that's you know, that's good for the bank.
And I'm thinking, I'm not sure that's how it's good
for the bank. But that was my personal view, to
be really clear, that was my personal view. We don't
as an organization take views on tex and speaking too,
of the organization. Big job cuts in Australia three thy
(04:33):
five hundred jobs, thousand contractors to drive efficiencies. There will
be some nervousness among your staff, I imagine, yeah, absolutely, Times
of change are always always generate nervousness. We've been very
clear with our staff here that the simplification and the
complexity that's being addressed in Australia isn't a factor here.
(04:55):
We're doing no significant you know above, we're always looking
at our business for efficiencies all that sort of thing,
but we're doing nothing that isn't usual at the moment,
and there's no plans to but in Australia. And you know,
it's a really tough time for our colleagues over there,
and I think our staff here would have a lot
of empathy for them because times of uncertainty are hard work.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Have you done the cuts already? Have you made the
efficiencies already the major ones you need to do. We're
Australia lagging behind a bit.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
Well, we've been, we've been, you know, we've run a
tight ship over a number of years. What's happened in
Australia is that they have been building new technology. They've
also had an acquisition of the sun Court Bank, so
there's work to do to bring all that together. And
naturally when you have a bigger bank you can run
(05:45):
it a bit more efficiently as well, so that so
it's just decomplexified. I don't know what that word is,
you know what I mean, and making sure that there
aren't too many people in head office generating work that
isn't important for making the ship go faster. And when
you look at our Australian domestic business compared to say
our News London, our institutional businesses, it is our it
(06:08):
has underperformed our peers and we don't want to be
in that position. You know, it's good to know that
you're a you're a winning bank.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Michael. You have a question for Antonia, Yes, good.
Speaker 4 (06:19):
Morning, thanks Antonia. Just a simple simple question here talking
with regards to kevil Gains text. Can you tell me
or what do you think and feel regarding kettle games
texts being introduced? But would it be introduced and back dated?
For example, somebody bought a house unless from probably three
(06:42):
or four years ago or five years ago, would the
kettle games text kick them from them or would it
be align the scene going forward to charge kettle Games
text on new properties from a given day going forward.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
That's a really good question, and I think it's something
that would need to be discussed. But when I go
back to one of the issues with capital gains text
been the complexity. If you backdated that, that would drive
an enormous amount of complexity. So one thing you could
definitely do to make it simpler is have a date
from now on and then at least everyone knew, you know,
(07:18):
with certainty, what they're getting into, what the rules were.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Absolutely well, take short break, we'll be back in just
a moment talking perhaps mortgage mortgage stress, the housing market
as well in terms of assistance to borrowers, and the
green loans as well, because I had a number of
farmers who with the increased payout, we're going to take
advantage of the green loans to green up their farms.
(07:42):
I have Antonio Watson and A and Z CEO and
studio for an outtaking your calls around banking. Steve, you
have one on the LVR.
Speaker 5 (07:50):
Yes, Hello, hello ladies, how are you Hope you're having
a great day?
Speaker 2 (07:53):
Thank you?
Speaker 6 (07:55):
Yeah, you're just regarding the LVR right now.
Speaker 5 (08:00):
I know that it's a sad thing me and trying
to get refinanced for my mortgage. But I'm so I'm
sure it's thinking a lot of other people. For instance,
if you're if you've got a property, you know, I've
just put a number out there for a million dollars
and you want to try and get a deposit with
an LVR out of twenty percent, that's like two hundred
thousand you're going to buy.
Speaker 6 (08:19):
But my Australia have just dropped. There's back down to
five percent and it's fifty thousand I've got to find
which is a lot easier for a first time buyer,
a lot easier for people like myself who for no
thought of our own, have got a housing market back,
which is you know, I'm now negative negative equity in
my property, and yeah, it's just stagnating things. And I
(08:42):
just wanted to get your opinion on what you think
about the LBRA, how it's holding back or do you
think it's still a good idea or do you think
maybe you look at it's looking at time to easing
it or even get rid of of get rid of it.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
Good question. So as a starting point, I think you're
you've nailed one of the issues with housing currently on
the head, which is it's not the actual affordability. Now
we're getting low interest rates. Again, the affordability of the
loan often isn't as much of a problem as getting
the deposit to get the loan together.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Many people are paying more in rent than they would
in a mortgage with payment.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
Yeah, absolutely, and then when they go into mortgage they're
often paying off more than they need to. We've got
a third of our customers more than six months ahead
on their mortgages, for example, at the moment. But what
the lvrs are. They are what we call a prudential tool.
So it's about the safety of the banking system. And
if you go back to the two thousands, sort of
in the lead up to the global financial crisis, banks
were competing on very low LVR loans. We had a crisis.
(09:40):
House prices dropped in value. It was tough economic times
and banks made significant losses as a result, and you
saw that in New Zealand, but you saw it even
more so in places like the US. So the rules
come from a event very sensible place and they have
been eased over time. They're a speed limit, so it
doesn't mean you can't have a low deposit. We would
(10:01):
very seldomly accept a deposit less than ten percent because
we want to see a savings history. What we want
to make sure there's a buffer that you have against
your house price dropping, and there are so more so
in the eighty to ninety percent space, we absolutely have
what we call a speed limit. So it's only a
certain proportion of our ending can be in that space.
(10:22):
And I think on balance, it's a good thing that
you know, in a very competitive market, no matter what
some studies have said, an incredibly competitive market, that it's
good for the banking system that we're not competing on
being on taking out much more risky loans.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
So that's protecting your profits, basically protecting you against loss.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
Protecting against loss and protecting our customers against loss as well.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Right, Okay, thank you very much, Steve. We're gonna have
to take a break. I told you to go quickly,
and I didn't. I tell you to go quickly. We'll
be back with your questions in just a moment with
Antonio Watson a and said CEO, just a quickie thing.
As we were talking about what's happening in Australia, how
would you feel about the Reserve Bank pushing out their
inflation target, as Barbara Edmonds suggested, we should look at
(11:11):
given what's happened in Australia.
Speaker 7 (11:13):
I think that.
Speaker 3 (11:16):
When you look at the reaction of people in a
cost of living crisis for the first time since really
probably I don't know the set of the eighties, how
frightening that's been for people's pay pockets. I'm not sure that.
I'm not sure that having a higher target is it's
the right time for it.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
I thought that too. How closely does A and Z
work with the Reserve Bank, Because there's been a lot
of criticism of the Reserve Bank from trading banks, hasn't there.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
We work with them very closely. I mean it's a
week to week relationship with the team.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
That sounds about tarty.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
With the team what we call supervisors us. So we
make sure that we're keeping them up to date with
anything that's happening in our business, all that kind of thing. So, yeah,
day to day relationships action. We won't agree on everything
every time they listen.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
Food criticism about about bringing those the official cash rate down,
hasn't that?
Speaker 3 (12:11):
And the capital changes as well in particular, and our
view on that was the capital changes again are about
bank safety and prudential regulation and nobody wants to see
another B and Z absolutely not. So we understand that
what I would love to see is, and I said
this at the Select Committee, is I'd love to see
our capital calculated exactly the same way as every other
(12:34):
country in the world, so you can compare it like
for like. But I do think there's a there's a
rationale for New Zealand to hold some an amount more
capital because we are a risky, distant, export reliant nation
worth not many people. So there is more risk for
New Zealand, I think than even for Australia. But let's
(12:55):
be really transparent about that rather than build in conservatism
over conservatism.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Fair point, Bruce, you have a question.
Speaker 8 (13:03):
Yeah, good Antonio and k O good, thank you.
Speaker 4 (13:08):
Good listen, h I have a question.
Speaker 8 (13:09):
About kettle gains tax and it's a few people and
don't really I don't really understand it in the regards
that it seems to penalize savers. And what I mean
by that is if you and I are on the
same wage, and you spend your entire wage and night
save your mind, whether that be put into housing or
(13:30):
shares or whatever, then aren't I getting tax twice on
that savings and not being encouraged to save.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
So I probably disagree with that because if you spend it,
it's gone. If you save it, under a capital gains
tax regime, you'd only be paying tax on incremental incremental
gains that you'd made from the investment increasing in value,
So you would still have that increase in value. You
(13:59):
just get taxed an amount of it, so you'd still
have the savings, you'd still have a return on those savings,
and the person that spend it or would have nothing.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
Yes, somebody a textas says the capital gains taxes are
not capital letter is a banking issue. The A and
Z CEO is not the person to be discussing this with.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
I'd welcome moving on to banking questions, right and as
I say, these are my personal views.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
And personal views. That's right. Here's here's a banking one carry.
Can you ask why they charge a two dollars fifty
fee for withdrawing money from an am Z ATM.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
We don't charge fees from withdrawing from an an ZT
ATM if you're an am Z customer. Definitely not for
any customers. We were the first, We were the first
bank to remove the fees from all customers.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
Oh there you go. Then, So if you I don't
know who's charging you two dollars fifty.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
If you want to give your contact details to to
Carry's people, I'm happy to follow that up.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
If you like my people, Helen, Helen is my people? Ellen?
Speaker 9 (14:59):
Hello, Yes, wanting ladies, I'll be fast. I'm raising the
shu object over bank loans to the rural sector. Principally,
why are you asking them to justify what they're doing
to improve the environmental effects on their business and putting
(15:23):
the loading on their mortgages when they draw one day?
And you do not do it on domestic houses in
the urban center.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
So we are not asking our customers to talk about
what they're doing. We do have some of those conversations.
For example, we've got some Eggrey Green lending loans specifically,
but all we ask our farmers is that they obey
the law, and some of the laws our environmental in nature.
But that's all we're asking in order to give them
a loan. We don't put a loading on any loans.
(15:54):
We have some discounted lending to encourage people to for
example put rooftop sold or on their farmhouses.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
That's something we've done. We're going to take you up
on that. Absolutely, they're getting better returns.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
YEA something that we had done for domestic housing customers
and we thought, well, that's only fair that we can
provide it for the home of a farmer as well,
and so we've extended that lending to our agri customers.
But we don't put a loading on any lending that
our lending is purely risk based and our pricing is
(16:25):
risk based because I had this was a topic that
came up some months ago, but we had a couple
of business owners who received letters from their banks asking
them to go through a.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
Checklist of what they were doing to reduce their carbon
footprint and that if they did not show ways of
doing it, then they might have to pay more to
secure lending in the future. Is that not your bank?
Speaker 3 (16:51):
No, I don't think so, although what where that could
be coming from, because I know there was a lot
of conversation about say, petrol stations during the banking inquiry.
Is that we lend based on the risk of the
loan and the risk of the counterparty. And one of
the things are if you are if you're in an
industry where it looks like you might have lower revenue
(17:14):
in the future because say you have more electric cars.
We would be asking you, well, if we're going to
lend you some money over a longer period of time,
how are you going to deal into that if your
revenue goes down? And will you still be able to
pay our back lending pay back a lending. So it's
very much risk based. So potentially those questions could have
been from a particular bank trying to judge the risk
(17:35):
of you know, I don't know, or fact finding for
their climate related disclosures. We have to disclose an enormous
amount of what we call our financed emissions, So we
have to disclose our own emissions plus the emissions that
we're effectively financing. So if we if we lend you
for your house carry we have to estimate the emissions
(17:55):
that your house is generating. We have to take the
emissions of our staff getting to work.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
That's what we call.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
Age three. I think got that wrong emissions, So it
could have been calculating that because we actually do need
to report that as part of our climate related disclosures.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
Well, that could well be it that the other banks
are doing too late. This was one of the ones
I can record. It was a travel company asking how
they can reduce their climate footprint.
Speaker 3 (18:23):
It's an enormous amount of data that we're needing to collect,
and why do you have.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
To collect it?
Speaker 3 (18:28):
Because we need to report our Sorry, it was Scope
three emissions on state. We need to report at the
emissions that we generate ourselves plus the emissions that we're financing,
which is called Scope three emissions every years as part of.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
Regulation, regulations imposed by this government or through its obligations
to the Paris.
Speaker 3 (18:47):
Accord, or it was we were the I think we
were the first country in the world to do compulsory
climate related disclosures. They were bought in. We've reported once
now compulsory. We did it voluntary one the year before
they were bought in, maybe four years ago or so,
and we had time to time to gather the information.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
We're talking to Antonio Walks from the CEO of A
and Z. Steve, you have a question for Antonia.
Speaker 7 (19:11):
Yes, I do, Antonia. You, thanks, Harry. It sounds like
there's a lot of environmental sustainability governance sort of slipping
in through various aspects of what's happening in the banking sector.
In terms of a n Z key, we savor how
much consideration is given to where the money gets investors
around companies that are aligned with carbonfer slash sustainability initiatives,
(19:38):
or is it purely on the financial return that you're
getting for your investors A.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
Bit of both, Because when I talked a bit about
risk earlier, risk in if you're investing investing in, say
a fossil fuel, a large fossil fuel, some kind of
company that gets a large proportion of it the income
from fossil fuel, have a look with the oil and
Gas band in New Zealand. That sort of thing can
be changed overnight. So again we look at it from
(20:02):
a risk lens. We're a member of the Responsible Investing Association.
I thinks the name of it, I could adit slightly wrong.
So we do think about are we investing our customers'
money responsibly?
Speaker 8 (20:15):
So you wouldn't is there?
Speaker 7 (20:17):
So obviously the risk profile is understandable regardless of where
the risk, what is presenting that risk? I mean, but personally,
you know, if I with me as an investor, with
you know, see one hundred thousand dollars invested with you.
If I want to save the planet, my view is
I'll go and pick up rubbish off the beach, which
(20:38):
I do do. Yeah, i'd be more involved, and for me,
they need to be kept in their separate bots. And
I find it frustrating where you've got an agenda that's
not related to finance, dictating what your risk definitely is
related to finance, but just thicking for the feel good
(20:59):
left wing factor of trying to save the planet. We're
not much that we do in New Zealand is going
to have much of an impact. Is there anyway? Often
to a fund that purely takes financial considerations into effect
and ignores the other.
Speaker 3 (21:12):
So I think it's it's a very it's a very
complex topic which we've got an enormous amount of disclosure
about our website, how we deal how we deal with
that specifically. But also we need to remember that New
Zealand has signed up to the Paris Agreement, so we
have got some some targets that we've signed up to.
It as a country that I think we all need.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
To be part of. So if you want to find
out more information, you can look at the disclosure statements
because there are it's very nuanced.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
It's it's, it's, it's it's. Our team think very very
hard about this because we want to maximize return for
our investors without taking undue risk or putting them in
a position where we've got something that's really really beholden
to to climate change.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
Over the years, there are can we saver funds that
focus solely on green investments. You know, they are overtly
virtual us, but they around any that are overtally get stuffed.
I don't care about the planet. I just want to
see a return on my investment.
Speaker 3 (22:13):
Well, especially when you think about our fund managers also
have to do the climate related disclosures that we have
to as a bank.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
Which is what Steve was asking, isn't it Suzanne, Good morning.
Speaker 10 (22:22):
Good morning, Good morning, carriage. I al just wanted to ask,
when you go into the bank and you are and
you are to withdraw money, I do find it a
little bit insive that they are asking us what we
intend to do with that money that we before. You know,
(22:43):
I like that really their business.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
So that's to do with any money laundering? I think
I can answer this one.
Speaker 3 (22:50):
Is it partly? So if it's over ten thousand dollars
it will absolutely be to do with money laundering, because
cash cash is exactly how you laund money or gets
used for ill gotten means, and that's not an aspiration
of any of our on any individual customers.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
That is just the rules.
Speaker 3 (23:09):
The other thing though, at the moment, and it's an
absolute scourge, is frauds and scams. So we're just making
sure I suspect that you were not withdrawing the money
for us for a scamster or a fraud star.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
How much money have you been withdrawing, Susann.
Speaker 10 (23:24):
So we we actually purchased the car and it was
three thousand dollars and the banks was very interested and
why we were trying it, and they actually said, well,
you know to pay online and I said, well, I was,
but I see the person that we purchased the car off,
(23:44):
you know, wanted cash and.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
You know surely were stolen, Susann.
Speaker 10 (23:50):
It wasn't Soles. We absolutely did our own work and yeah,
and we actually were still owned the car.
Speaker 3 (23:58):
And it's a very fine balance for our staff, Susan,
because you know, we have you know, we need to
be looking for red flags and making sure that our
customer to the extent we can and it's really hard
when people are making choices about what to do with
their own money, as you were doing. But it's so
prevalent now that we're just we're walking this very fine
(24:18):
line between being too nosy and also protecting our customers.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
Yeah, I get that, you know, because of all of
a sudden you find you scammed. They'd come back and say,
why did you let me withdraw ten thousand dollars? You know,
just before we go to Makaia, a couple of A
and Z removed an ATM machine from the local area
and it was replaced by all points, so they charge.
They're a private company who have made that decision. We
(24:43):
pay other ATMs when they for the right for our
customers to take their money out of them, So they're
just taking another charge charge with customer as well. Why
are you removing the ATMs?
Speaker 3 (24:57):
I'd have to know that specific. ATM Usually it's about
the ability to service it, the need in the community.
Those qu look, I'd i'd have to take that off li.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
But there are more and more banks shutting up their
services and trying to get everything pushed online, while frauds
are going getting more and more sophisticated.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
So we as an industry, we've made a commitment not
to close any regional branches. It goes for another at
least a couple of years. I can't comment what will
happen when that finishes, but I feel as if, you know,
we've right sized our branch network in terms of where
we're sitting around regional New Zealand. In cities, it's obviously
(25:39):
a lot easier to find an ATM or a bank branch,
but our customers have voted with their feet. It's nine
hundred and seventy five out of a thousand transactions are
online and one is in a branch.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
How secure is my voice? Confirms my identity security system.
Given the rise of AI and other software being able
to mimic one's voice, that.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
Is one of the reasons that we've rolled out. You
can now go into your banking app and press the button,
call the contact center and you'll be verified. It's still
very hard to without some really good recordings of someone's voice.
It's still very hard to mimic their voice. So we
will continue to use voice recordings as sort of a
(26:20):
second factor identification. You know how sometimes you do your
password and then you get sent a pin you might
use your voice recording for that. But the number one
way I'd tell people to get hold of us is
go into the app and press the button and says
call A and Z. Or you won't have to go
through any further security screening because you've already gone through
those two factors. You've had your phone, you've gone into
the app.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
Makay, good morning to you.
Speaker 11 (26:43):
Yes, good morning, ladies, thanks for taking my call. I
have a question regarding the domestic green loans and why
they're not accessible during a build a new build construction line. Basically,
I'm building house at the moment I'd like to put
solar on, I can't access that one percent loan until
(27:04):
the construction is complete and the loan has been then available.
And doing it that way, I lose all the efficiencies
of installing the solar during the construction phase when I've
already got scaffolding up and walls are open and cables
and all that sort of things that I basically have
(27:24):
to future proof everything and then pay for another round
of scaffolding and whatnot once the house was completed. Is
there any.
Speaker 3 (27:32):
That's a really good question, And look, I'll take that
one away. The reason that you can't do that at
the moment. Is that there is that it's a significantly
discounted loan, So we're looking to encourage existing customers to
top up their existing home loan with that amount. But
you raise a good question about builds, So let me
take that one away.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
Okay. Somebody also has a question about they have been
struggling paying the mortgage in recent times, looking to that
they get there, but it's been a real push and
they're looking to sell the how and just draw breath
and get themselves back on track. Is that going to
(28:12):
impact on future lending for them?
Speaker 3 (28:15):
No, because I would say that you've you very sensibly,
very sensibly thinking about what your options are in that case,
if you've missed lending that would have that would impact
your credit rating. So that's something if you've missed payments,
that would impact your credit rating, and that's something you
could talk to our customer financial wellbeing about. But what
I'd be doing if you haven't had a good conversation
(28:36):
with your bank, I'd be one hundred percent ringing them
because there might be other options. They might be able
to put you on interest only or something like that,
or term out your loan for longer, just to see
if there's anything that we can do. That doesn't mean
you need to sell your house. But other than that,
you know, what you are exhibiting is good financial behavior
in my mind.
Speaker 2 (28:55):
Okay, so we do get chased, but we get there
in the end. So is that going to mean that
there's a poor lending record if.
Speaker 3 (29:03):
You get if you're making all your payments on time
with theo's credit bureaus that record people when people have misspayments,
and that does impact your credit rating, it doesn't mean
you'll never get lending again. And so again that's a
conversation with your banker, and it's something I'd be if
you're an asy customer, I'd be calling our customer team
and they can help you with.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
Okay, how are the mortgage mortgage de sales?
Speaker 3 (29:24):
Nobody likes those, No, they don't. And they're still very infrequent,
you know. We we've probably had up to ten in
a month in the worst month, I think sort of
one a week at the moment, and that's been from
a handful per year to be honest, so very infrequent.
And that's because mostly, like like the previous text, people
(29:45):
take their financial situation into account themselves. No one wants
the bank to sell their house. You know, we put
a black and white add in the paper and sort
of sell it at whatever price we can get. You're
going to do much better by taking your own control.
But equally, do make sure you call us if you're
under stress, because there are things that we can do
around helping your repayments be more manageable.
Speaker 2 (30:05):
News Talk said be Mark.
Speaker 7 (30:07):
Good morning, Yeah, good morning guys.
Speaker 12 (30:12):
Sorry, I just had a question around how came the
process for business owners to go get mortgages and stuff
like that is so arduous, right. I have to provide
all of the financial information for all of our businesses that.
Speaker 4 (30:27):
We own, and.
Speaker 12 (30:29):
Lots and lots of different requirements. But if my employees
want to go get another mortgage, they provide free pay slips.
So I've paid myself one hundred and eighty thousand dollars
for many years, and lots of my employees that have
a far lower salary than I do would be able
to get through a mortgage process far easier, and they
(30:50):
work for me.
Speaker 3 (30:50):
You know, I completely understand that question. It is much
easier to get a loan if you're a paye employee
because it is a matter of the pay slips. We've
got obligations and myself, yeah, yeah, I understand that, but
I guess they need that the banker is making sure
that the business is instill in good shape to continue
to be paying that pay and it's our obligations under
(31:12):
responsible ending. But I completely appreciate that it's more complex
for small business owners and it is.
Speaker 2 (31:18):
For pay Can you make it easier for people like Mark?
Speaker 7 (31:21):
We try to.
Speaker 3 (31:22):
It's in our interest because we want to lend people
to money who can lend money to people who can
pay it back. So we're constantly looking to improve our
processes and make it easier. It will get easier over time.
With open banking, it will allow you allow us to
bring in some of that information without you having to
provide it for us, for example, So some of those
processes will become easier over time.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
Have you shopped around Marked, have a look at different banks?
Has competition helped.
Speaker 7 (31:47):
You there all?
Speaker 4 (31:49):
Yeah?
Speaker 12 (31:49):
All institutions are pretty much the same there. It's been
a big frustration, right. I feel like the more money
I've earned, the harder it is for me to loan
loan money.
Speaker 3 (32:01):
Yeah, and it gets the worst thing is when you've
saved your money for retirement and you have no income,
it's really hard to get a credit card.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
We've got like a minute and a half. Can Antonia
please give a view on when margins will return to
long term averages?
Speaker 3 (32:12):
Ask see in margins will turn to long So if
you met think about things like net interest margins and
return or returns they have banking margins and returns have
decreased over time, so our shareholders would be delighted. I
guess if they return to where they were, you know,
ten to fifteen years ago. But we're seeing a decline
a decline over time. There's fluctuations year on year depending
(32:33):
what's happening with interest rates. They tend to expand when
interest rates go up and there's a bit of a
lag effect before they get pulled back in again. But
over time that our returns have been declining. And that's
the overall measure of measure of profitability.
Speaker 2 (32:45):
And is there a point at which you'd say too
much profit is too much when people are struggling.
Speaker 3 (32:50):
Absolutely, and that's something we look at really really hard
to make sure that you know, we've done a lot
of spend a lot of time talking about profit. Whether
our profits are fair. They are just above our cost
of capital, which is the minimum that the nineteen billion
dollars foreign investment we bring into this country would accept
to keep investing here.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
I thank you for your time. We're leaving with Sweet
Caroline because it was your daffit all day karaoke song
Antony Watson and said, CEO, thank you for your time
this morning. Hope you've enjoyed it.
Speaker 1 (33:20):
Thank you, and I have for more from Carry Wooden Mornings.
Listen live to news Talks at b from nine am weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
You're listening to the Kerry Wood and Morning's podcast from
News Talk sad B.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Now joined this hour, as I mentioned by Antonio Watson,
a and z's CEO, and a very good morning to you. Antonio,
good morning, carry thank you for having me. Absolutely, if
you are going to take questions on banking related matters,
you don't necessarily just need to hear from A and
SD customers no banking related matters. You can text through
your question now on nine two, niney two, or you
(00:33):
can call on eight hundred eighty ten eighty. There's a
lot to cover off. Maybe we'll talk about the capital
gains text. You made quite a few ripples when you
thought that the time had arrived for a capital gains
text on realized gains in twenty twenty four. Do you
(00:55):
still believe that? Do you still maintain that now?
Speaker 3 (00:59):
No one was more surprised than me about the ripples,
And what I was responding to was a question about
do you support a wealth or a tech capital gains
Teik and I do not support a wealth tax, an
un a tax on money that people don't have in
the bank is not fair. I've traditionally not supported capital
gains for two reasons, very complex, high compliance costs. You know,
lots of works for accountants and lawyers. I can say
(01:19):
that I was an accountant, But I think as time
has moved on and you think about it from an
economic sense, it's fair. It is fair to tax people
on all forms of income.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Including the profits they may make on a family home
or just on investment property.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
I think investments and investment and not just property. But
family home is very traditionally carved out because they still
need to buy a new home in the same market.
So you can't take a haircut on a home when
you sell it.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Yeah, so it would only be investments, but investments across
the board.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
Yeah, I think.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
So what about businesses?
Speaker 3 (01:57):
That's really complex, And that's what I mean about it.
It's complex. But you know a big part of my
retirement savings will be earnings from income that i I've
been taxed on. A big part of my parents' retirement
savings was selling a business. So there are you do
need to think about things equitably. I think it doesn't
mean I have the solutions. I think actually it's way
more than capital gains. We need to think about our
(02:19):
tax system across the board and the looming aging population.
There's a lot of things. I think just an honest
com I don't have the answers. I just think it
honest conversation. It would be a good thing to have.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
People are really resistant to seeing a cut to their
super I've noticed on this show, you know, people are like,
I haven't got the souper yet a few years away.
But if I don't need it, why would I apply
for it?
Speaker 3 (02:48):
I guess if you don't need it, the reason you'd
apply for it is that you would think that you
could spend the money better than the government. And I
think that's a fair thing for people to.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
Think, like you could make a donation in your own
way or yeah, I get you.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Know, I guess. And but again I think that we
there are going to be two working New Zealanders for
everyone supernuitant in the not too distant future. I think
it's in twenty four.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
And there used to be four or five.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
Yes, and so that's a lot of If you think
about your children and your grandchildren, that's a lot of
pensioners they will be supporting in the future. And you
know that something needs to be thought about in that context.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Well, it has in terms of the Superannuation Fund, which
is coming up to what they say, one hundred billion dollars. Yes,
that's a phenomenal amount of money. Is that going to
be enough to offset the.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
Costs based on the demographic Look, I'm no expert, but
at least we've got that and the superfund's done a
terrific job of stewarding those assets over a number of years.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
We've also got the health costs because it's not just
the super is it. So Yeah, it's interesting, isn't it that?
But I guess when you are the CEO of a
bank and you do make a call on that, it
is going to get attention. I mean possibly if you
were one of your amazing dollars, it wouldn't have got
quite the same attention the CEO of a bank it will.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Yes, And interestingly it was well, she's just playing her
own book because that's you know, that's good for the bank.
And I'm thinking, I'm not sure that's how it's good
for the bank. But that was my personal view, to
be really clear, that was my personal view. We don't
as an organization take views on tex and speaking too,
of the organization. Big job cuts in Australia three thy
(04:33):
five hundred jobs, thousand contractors to drive efficiencies. There will
be some nervousness among your staff, I imagine, yeah, absolutely, Times
of change are always always generate nervousness. We've been very
clear with our staff here that the simplification and the
complexity that's being addressed in Australia isn't a factor here.
(04:55):
We're doing no significant you know above, we're always looking
at our business for efficiencies all that sort of thing,
but we're doing nothing that isn't usual at the moment,
and there's no plans to but in Australia. And you know,
it's a really tough time for our colleagues over there,
and I think our staff here would have a lot
of empathy for them because times of uncertainty are hard work.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Have you done the cuts already? Have you made the
efficiencies already the major ones you need to do. We're
Australia lagging behind a bit.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
Well, we've been, we've been, you know, we've run a
tight ship over a number of years. What's happened in
Australia is that they have been building new technology. They've
also had an acquisition of the sun Court Bank, so
there's work to do to bring all that together. And
naturally when you have a bigger bank you can run
(05:45):
it a bit more efficiently as well, so that so
it's just decomplexified. I don't know what that word is,
you know what I mean, and making sure that there
aren't too many people in head office generating work that
isn't important for making the ship go faster. And when
you look at our Australian domestic business compared to say
our News London, our institutional businesses, it is our it
(06:08):
has underperformed our peers and we don't want to be
in that position. You know, it's good to know that
you're a you're a winning bank.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Michael. You have a question for Antonia, Yes, good.
Speaker 4 (06:19):
Morning, thanks Antonia. Just a simple simple question here talking
with regards to kevil Gains text. Can you tell me
or what do you think and feel regarding kettle games
texts being introduced? But would it be introduced and back dated?
For example, somebody bought a house unless from probably three
(06:42):
or four years ago or five years ago, would the
kettle games text kick them from them or would it
be align the scene going forward to charge kettle Games
text on new properties from a given day going forward.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
That's a really good question, and I think it's something
that would need to be discussed. But when I go
back to one of the issues with capital gains text
been the complexity. If you backdated that, that would drive
an enormous amount of complexity. So one thing you could
definitely do to make it simpler is have a date
from now on and then at least everyone knew, you know,
(07:18):
with certainty, what they're getting into, what the rules were.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Absolutely well, take short break, we'll be back in just
a moment talking perhaps mortgage mortgage stress, the housing market
as well in terms of assistance to borrowers, and the
green loans as well, because I had a number of
farmers who with the increased payout, we're going to take
advantage of the green loans to green up their farms.
(07:42):
I have Antonio Watson and A and Z CEO and
studio for an outtaking your calls around banking. Steve, you
have one on the LVR.
Speaker 5 (07:50):
Yes, Hello, hello ladies, how are you Hope you're having
a great day?
Speaker 2 (07:53):
Thank you?
Speaker 6 (07:55):
Yeah, you're just regarding the LVR right now.
Speaker 5 (08:00):
I know that it's a sad thing me and trying
to get refinanced for my mortgage. But I'm so I'm
sure it's thinking a lot of other people. For instance,
if you're if you've got a property, you know, I've
just put a number out there for a million dollars
and you want to try and get a deposit with
an LVR out of twenty percent, that's like two hundred
thousand you're going to buy.
Speaker 6 (08:19):
But my Australia have just dropped. There's back down to
five percent and it's fifty thousand I've got to find
which is a lot easier for a first time buyer,
a lot easier for people like myself who for no
thought of our own, have got a housing market back,
which is you know, I'm now negative negative equity in
my property, and yeah, it's just stagnating things. And I
(08:42):
just wanted to get your opinion on what you think
about the LBRA, how it's holding back or do you
think it's still a good idea or do you think
maybe you look at it's looking at time to easing
it or even get rid of of get rid of it.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
Good question. So as a starting point, I think you're
you've nailed one of the issues with housing currently on
the head, which is it's not the actual affordability. Now
we're getting low interest rates. Again, the affordability of the
loan often isn't as much of a problem as getting
the deposit to get the loan together.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Many people are paying more in rent than they would
in a mortgage with payment.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
Yeah, absolutely, and then when they go into mortgage they're
often paying off more than they need to. We've got
a third of our customers more than six months ahead
on their mortgages, for example, at the moment. But what
the lvrs are. They are what we call a prudential tool.
So it's about the safety of the banking system. And
if you go back to the two thousands, sort of
in the lead up to the global financial crisis, banks
were competing on very low LVR loans. We had a crisis.
(09:40):
House prices dropped in value. It was tough economic times
and banks made significant losses as a result, and you
saw that in New Zealand, but you saw it even
more so in places like the US. So the rules
come from a event very sensible place and they have
been eased over time. They're a speed limit, so it
doesn't mean you can't have a low deposit. We would
(10:01):
very seldomly accept a deposit less than ten percent because
we want to see a savings history. What we want
to make sure there's a buffer that you have against
your house price dropping, and there are so more so
in the eighty to ninety percent space, we absolutely have
what we call a speed limit. So it's only a
certain proportion of our ending can be in that space.
(10:22):
And I think on balance, it's a good thing that
you know, in a very competitive market, no matter what
some studies have said, an incredibly competitive market, that it's
good for the banking system that we're not competing on
being on taking out much more risky loans.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
So that's protecting your profits, basically protecting you against loss.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
Protecting against loss and protecting our customers against loss as well.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Right, Okay, thank you very much, Steve. We're gonna have
to take a break. I told you to go quickly,
and I didn't. I tell you to go quickly. We'll
be back with your questions in just a moment with
Antonio Watson a and said CEO, just a quickie thing.
As we were talking about what's happening in Australia, how
would you feel about the Reserve Bank pushing out their
inflation target, as Barbara Edmonds suggested, we should look at
(11:11):
given what's happened in Australia.
Speaker 7 (11:13):
I think that.
Speaker 3 (11:16):
When you look at the reaction of people in a
cost of living crisis for the first time since really
probably I don't know the set of the eighties, how
frightening that's been for people's pay pockets. I'm not sure that.
I'm not sure that having a higher target is it's
the right time for it.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
I thought that too. How closely does A and Z
work with the Reserve Bank, Because there's been a lot
of criticism of the Reserve Bank from trading banks, hasn't there.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
We work with them very closely. I mean it's a
week to week relationship with the team.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
That sounds about tarty.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
With the team what we call supervisors us. So we
make sure that we're keeping them up to date with
anything that's happening in our business, all that kind of thing. So, yeah,
day to day relationships action. We won't agree on everything
every time they listen.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
Food criticism about about bringing those the official cash rate down,
hasn't that?
Speaker 3 (12:11):
And the capital changes as well in particular, and our
view on that was the capital changes again are about
bank safety and prudential regulation and nobody wants to see
another B and Z absolutely not. So we understand that
what I would love to see is, and I said
this at the Select Committee, is I'd love to see
our capital calculated exactly the same way as every other
(12:34):
country in the world, so you can compare it like
for like. But I do think there's a there's a
rationale for New Zealand to hold some an amount more
capital because we are a risky, distant, export reliant nation
worth not many people. So there is more risk for
New Zealand, I think than even for Australia. But let's
(12:55):
be really transparent about that rather than build in conservatism
over conservatism.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Fair point, Bruce, you have a question.
Speaker 8 (13:03):
Yeah, good Antonio and k O good, thank you.
Speaker 4 (13:08):
Good listen, h I have a question.
Speaker 8 (13:09):
About kettle gains tax and it's a few people and
don't really I don't really understand it in the regards
that it seems to penalize savers. And what I mean
by that is if you and I are on the
same wage, and you spend your entire wage and night
save your mind, whether that be put into housing or
(13:30):
shares or whatever, then aren't I getting tax twice on
that savings and not being encouraged to save.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
So I probably disagree with that because if you spend it,
it's gone. If you save it, under a capital gains
tax regime, you'd only be paying tax on incremental incremental
gains that you'd made from the investment increasing in value,
So you would still have that increase in value. You
(13:59):
just get taxed an amount of it, so you'd still
have the savings, you'd still have a return on those savings,
and the person that spend it or would have nothing.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
Yes, somebody a textas says the capital gains taxes are
not capital letter is a banking issue. The A and
Z CEO is not the person to be discussing this with.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
I'd welcome moving on to banking questions, right and as
I say, these are my personal views.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
And personal views. That's right. Here's here's a banking one carry.
Can you ask why they charge a two dollars fifty
fee for withdrawing money from an am Z ATM.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
We don't charge fees from withdrawing from an an ZT
ATM if you're an am Z customer. Definitely not for
any customers. We were the first, We were the first
bank to remove the fees from all customers.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
Oh there you go. Then, So if you I don't
know who's charging you two dollars fifty.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
If you want to give your contact details to to
Carry's people, I'm happy to follow that up.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
If you like my people, Helen, Helen is my people? Ellen?
Speaker 9 (14:59):
Hello, Yes, wanting ladies, I'll be fast. I'm raising the
shu object over bank loans to the rural sector. Principally,
why are you asking them to justify what they're doing
to improve the environmental effects on their business and putting
(15:23):
the loading on their mortgages when they draw one day?
And you do not do it on domestic houses in
the urban center.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
So we are not asking our customers to talk about
what they're doing. We do have some of those conversations.
For example, we've got some Eggrey Green lending loans specifically,
but all we ask our farmers is that they obey
the law, and some of the laws our environmental in nature.
But that's all we're asking in order to give them
a loan. We don't put a loading on any loans.
(15:54):
We have some discounted lending to encourage people to for
example put rooftop sold or on their farmhouses.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
That's something we've done. We're going to take you up
on that. Absolutely, they're getting better returns.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
YEA something that we had done for domestic housing customers
and we thought, well, that's only fair that we can
provide it for the home of a farmer as well,
and so we've extended that lending to our agri customers.
But we don't put a loading on any lending that
our lending is purely risk based and our pricing is
(16:25):
risk based because I had this was a topic that
came up some months ago, but we had a couple
of business owners who received letters from their banks asking
them to go through a.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
Checklist of what they were doing to reduce their carbon
footprint and that if they did not show ways of
doing it, then they might have to pay more to
secure lending in the future. Is that not your bank?
Speaker 3 (16:51):
No, I don't think so, although what where that could
be coming from, because I know there was a lot
of conversation about say, petrol stations during the banking inquiry.
Is that we lend based on the risk of the
loan and the risk of the counterparty. And one of
the things are if you are if you're in an
industry where it looks like you might have lower revenue
(17:14):
in the future because say you have more electric cars.
We would be asking you, well, if we're going to
lend you some money over a longer period of time,
how are you going to deal into that if your
revenue goes down? And will you still be able to
pay our back lending pay back a lending. So it's
very much risk based. So potentially those questions could have
been from a particular bank trying to judge the risk
(17:35):
of you know, I don't know, or fact finding for
their climate related disclosures. We have to disclose an enormous
amount of what we call our financed emissions, So we
have to disclose our own emissions plus the emissions that
we're effectively financing. So if we if we lend you
for your house carry we have to estimate the emissions
(17:55):
that your house is generating. We have to take the
emissions of our staff getting to work.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
That's what we call.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
Age three. I think got that wrong emissions, So it
could have been calculating that because we actually do need
to report that as part of our climate related disclosures.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
Well, that could well be it that the other banks
are doing too late. This was one of the ones
I can record. It was a travel company asking how
they can reduce their climate footprint.
Speaker 3 (18:23):
It's an enormous amount of data that we're needing to collect,
and why do you have.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
To collect it?
Speaker 3 (18:28):
Because we need to report our Sorry, it was Scope
three emissions on state. We need to report at the
emissions that we generate ourselves plus the emissions that we're financing,
which is called Scope three emissions every years as part of.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
Regulation, regulations imposed by this government or through its obligations
to the Paris.
Speaker 3 (18:47):
Accord, or it was we were the I think we
were the first country in the world to do compulsory
climate related disclosures. They were bought in. We've reported once
now compulsory. We did it voluntary one the year before
they were bought in, maybe four years ago or so,
and we had time to time to gather the information.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
We're talking to Antonio Walks from the CEO of A
and Z. Steve, you have a question for Antonia.
Speaker 7 (19:11):
Yes, I do, Antonia. You, thanks, Harry. It sounds like
there's a lot of environmental sustainability governance sort of slipping
in through various aspects of what's happening in the banking sector.
In terms of a n Z key, we savor how
much consideration is given to where the money gets investors
around companies that are aligned with carbonfer slash sustainability initiatives,
(19:38):
or is it purely on the financial return that you're
getting for your investors A.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
Bit of both, Because when I talked a bit about
risk earlier, risk in if you're investing investing in, say
a fossil fuel, a large fossil fuel, some kind of
company that gets a large proportion of it the income
from fossil fuel, have a look with the oil and
Gas band in New Zealand. That sort of thing can
be changed overnight. So again we look at it from
(20:02):
a risk lens. We're a member of the Responsible Investing Association.
I thinks the name of it, I could adit slightly wrong.
So we do think about are we investing our customers'
money responsibly?
Speaker 8 (20:15):
So you wouldn't is there?
Speaker 7 (20:17):
So obviously the risk profile is understandable regardless of where
the risk, what is presenting that risk? I mean, but personally,
you know, if I with me as an investor, with
you know, see one hundred thousand dollars invested with you.
If I want to save the planet, my view is
I'll go and pick up rubbish off the beach, which
(20:38):
I do do. Yeah, i'd be more involved, and for me,
they need to be kept in their separate bots. And
I find it frustrating where you've got an agenda that's
not related to finance, dictating what your risk definitely is
related to finance, but just thicking for the feel good
(20:59):
left wing factor of trying to save the planet. We're
not much that we do in New Zealand is going
to have much of an impact. Is there anyway? Often
to a fund that purely takes financial considerations into effect
and ignores the other.
Speaker 3 (21:12):
So I think it's it's a very it's a very
complex topic which we've got an enormous amount of disclosure
about our website, how we deal how we deal with
that specifically. But also we need to remember that New
Zealand has signed up to the Paris Agreement, so we
have got some some targets that we've signed up to.
It as a country that I think we all need.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
To be part of. So if you want to find
out more information, you can look at the disclosure statements
because there are it's very nuanced.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
It's it's, it's, it's it's. Our team think very very
hard about this because we want to maximize return for
our investors without taking undue risk or putting them in
a position where we've got something that's really really beholden
to to climate change.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
Over the years, there are can we saver funds that
focus solely on green investments. You know, they are overtly
virtual us, but they around any that are overtally get stuffed.
I don't care about the planet. I just want to
see a return on my investment.
Speaker 3 (22:13):
Well, especially when you think about our fund managers also
have to do the climate related disclosures that we have
to as a bank.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
Which is what Steve was asking, isn't it Suzanne, Good morning.
Speaker 10 (22:22):
Good morning, Good morning, carriage. I al just wanted to ask,
when you go into the bank and you are and
you are to withdraw money, I do find it a
little bit insive that they are asking us what we
intend to do with that money that we before. You know,
(22:43):
I like that really their business.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
So that's to do with any money laundering? I think
I can answer this one.
Speaker 3 (22:50):
Is it partly? So if it's over ten thousand dollars
it will absolutely be to do with money laundering, because
cash cash is exactly how you laund money or gets
used for ill gotten means, and that's not an aspiration
of any of our on any individual customers.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
That is just the rules.
Speaker 3 (23:09):
The other thing though, at the moment, and it's an
absolute scourge, is frauds and scams. So we're just making
sure I suspect that you were not withdrawing the money
for us for a scamster or a fraud star.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
How much money have you been withdrawing, Susann.
Speaker 10 (23:24):
So we we actually purchased the car and it was
three thousand dollars and the banks was very interested and
why we were trying it, and they actually said, well,
you know to pay online and I said, well, I was,
but I see the person that we purchased the car off,
(23:44):
you know, wanted cash and.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
You know surely were stolen, Susann.
Speaker 10 (23:50):
It wasn't Soles. We absolutely did our own work and yeah,
and we actually were still owned the car.
Speaker 3 (23:58):
And it's a very fine balance for our staff, Susan,
because you know, we have you know, we need to
be looking for red flags and making sure that our
customer to the extent we can and it's really hard
when people are making choices about what to do with
their own money, as you were doing. But it's so
prevalent now that we're just we're walking this very fine
(24:18):
line between being too nosy and also protecting our customers.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
Yeah, I get that, you know, because of all of
a sudden you find you scammed. They'd come back and say,
why did you let me withdraw ten thousand dollars? You know,
just before we go to Makaia, a couple of A
and Z removed an ATM machine from the local area
and it was replaced by all points, so they charge.
They're a private company who have made that decision. We
(24:43):
pay other ATMs when they for the right for our
customers to take their money out of them, So they're
just taking another charge charge with customer as well. Why
are you removing the ATMs?
Speaker 3 (24:57):
I'd have to know that specific. ATM Usually it's about
the ability to service it, the need in the community.
Those qu look, I'd i'd have to take that off li.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
But there are more and more banks shutting up their
services and trying to get everything pushed online, while frauds
are going getting more and more sophisticated.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
So we as an industry, we've made a commitment not
to close any regional branches. It goes for another at
least a couple of years. I can't comment what will
happen when that finishes, but I feel as if, you know,
we've right sized our branch network in terms of where
we're sitting around regional New Zealand. In cities, it's obviously
(25:39):
a lot easier to find an ATM or a bank branch,
but our customers have voted with their feet. It's nine
hundred and seventy five out of a thousand transactions are
online and one is in a branch.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
How secure is my voice? Confirms my identity security system.
Given the rise of AI and other software being able
to mimic one's voice, that.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
Is one of the reasons that we've rolled out. You
can now go into your banking app and press the button,
call the contact center and you'll be verified. It's still
very hard to without some really good recordings of someone's voice.
It's still very hard to mimic their voice. So we
will continue to use voice recordings as sort of a
(26:20):
second factor identification. You know how sometimes you do your
password and then you get sent a pin you might
use your voice recording for that. But the number one
way I'd tell people to get hold of us is
go into the app and press the button and says
call A and Z. Or you won't have to go
through any further security screening because you've already gone through
those two factors. You've had your phone, you've gone into
the app.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
Makay, good morning to you.
Speaker 11 (26:43):
Yes, good morning, ladies, thanks for taking my call. I
have a question regarding the domestic green loans and why
they're not accessible during a build a new build construction line. Basically,
I'm building house at the moment I'd like to put
solar on, I can't access that one percent loan until
(27:04):
the construction is complete and the loan has been then available.
And doing it that way, I lose all the efficiencies
of installing the solar during the construction phase when I've
already got scaffolding up and walls are open and cables
and all that sort of things that I basically have
(27:24):
to future proof everything and then pay for another round
of scaffolding and whatnot once the house was completed. Is
there any.
Speaker 3 (27:32):
That's a really good question, And look, I'll take that
one away. The reason that you can't do that at
the moment. Is that there is that it's a significantly
discounted loan, So we're looking to encourage existing customers to
top up their existing home loan with that amount. But
you raise a good question about builds, So let me
take that one away.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
Okay. Somebody also has a question about they have been
struggling paying the mortgage in recent times, looking to that
they get there, but it's been a real push and
they're looking to sell the how and just draw breath
and get themselves back on track. Is that going to
(28:12):
impact on future lending for them?
Speaker 3 (28:15):
No, because I would say that you've you very sensibly,
very sensibly thinking about what your options are in that case,
if you've missed lending that would have that would impact
your credit rating. So that's something if you've missed payments,
that would impact your credit rating, and that's something you
could talk to our customer financial wellbeing about. But what
I'd be doing if you haven't had a good conversation
(28:36):
with your bank, I'd be one hundred percent ringing them
because there might be other options. They might be able
to put you on interest only or something like that,
or term out your loan for longer, just to see
if there's anything that we can do. That doesn't mean
you need to sell your house. But other than that,
you know, what you are exhibiting is good financial behavior
in my mind.
Speaker 2 (28:55):
Okay, so we do get chased, but we get there
in the end. So is that going to mean that
there's a poor lending record if.
Speaker 3 (29:03):
You get if you're making all your payments on time
with theo's credit bureaus that record people when people have misspayments,
and that does impact your credit rating, it doesn't mean
you'll never get lending again. And so again that's a
conversation with your banker, and it's something I'd be if
you're an asy customer, I'd be calling our customer team
and they can help you with.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
Okay, how are the mortgage mortgage de sales?
Speaker 3 (29:24):
Nobody likes those, No, they don't. And they're still very infrequent,
you know. We we've probably had up to ten in
a month in the worst month, I think sort of
one a week at the moment, and that's been from
a handful per year to be honest, so very infrequent.
And that's because mostly, like like the previous text, people
(29:45):
take their financial situation into account themselves. No one wants
the bank to sell their house. You know, we put
a black and white add in the paper and sort
of sell it at whatever price we can get. You're
going to do much better by taking your own control.
But equally, do make sure you call us if you're
under stress, because there are things that we can do
around helping your repayments be more manageable.
Speaker 2 (30:05):
News Talk said be Mark.
Speaker 7 (30:07):
Good morning, Yeah, good morning guys.
Speaker 12 (30:12):
Sorry, I just had a question around how came the
process for business owners to go get mortgages and stuff
like that is so arduous, right. I have to provide
all of the financial information for all of our businesses that.
Speaker 4 (30:27):
We own, and.
Speaker 12 (30:29):
Lots and lots of different requirements. But if my employees
want to go get another mortgage, they provide free pay slips.
So I've paid myself one hundred and eighty thousand dollars
for many years, and lots of my employees that have
a far lower salary than I do would be able
to get through a mortgage process far easier, and they
(30:50):
work for me.
Speaker 3 (30:50):
You know, I completely understand that question. It is much
easier to get a loan if you're a paye employee
because it is a matter of the pay slips. We've
got obligations and myself, yeah, yeah, I understand that, but
I guess they need that the banker is making sure
that the business is instill in good shape to continue
to be paying that pay and it's our obligations under
(31:12):
responsible ending. But I completely appreciate that it's more complex
for small business owners and it is.
Speaker 2 (31:18):
For pay Can you make it easier for people like Mark?
Speaker 7 (31:21):
We try to.
Speaker 3 (31:22):
It's in our interest because we want to lend people
to money who can lend money to people who can
pay it back. So we're constantly looking to improve our
processes and make it easier. It will get easier over time.
With open banking, it will allow you allow us to
bring in some of that information without you having to
provide it for us, for example, So some of those
processes will become easier over time.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
Have you shopped around Marked, have a look at different banks?
Has competition helped.
Speaker 7 (31:47):
You there all?
Speaker 4 (31:49):
Yeah?
Speaker 12 (31:49):
All institutions are pretty much the same there. It's been
a big frustration, right. I feel like the more money
I've earned, the harder it is for me to loan
loan money.
Speaker 3 (32:01):
Yeah, and it gets the worst thing is when you've
saved your money for retirement and you have no income,
it's really hard to get a credit card.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
We've got like a minute and a half. Can Antonia
please give a view on when margins will return to
long term averages?
Speaker 3 (32:12):
Ask see in margins will turn to long So if
you met think about things like net interest margins and
return or returns they have banking margins and returns have
decreased over time, so our shareholders would be delighted. I
guess if they return to where they were, you know,
ten to fifteen years ago. But we're seeing a decline
a decline over time. There's fluctuations year on year depending
(32:33):
what's happening with interest rates. They tend to expand when
interest rates go up and there's a bit of a
lag effect before they get pulled back in again. But
over time that our returns have been declining. And that's
the overall measure of measure of profitability.
Speaker 2 (32:45):
And is there a point at which you'd say too
much profit is too much when people are struggling.
Speaker 3 (32:50):
Absolutely, and that's something we look at really really hard
to make sure that you know, we've done a lot
of spend a lot of time talking about profit. Whether
our profits are fair. They are just above our cost
of capital, which is the minimum that the nineteen billion
dollars foreign investment we bring into this country would accept
to keep investing here.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
I thank you for your time. We're leaving with Sweet
Caroline because it was your daffit all day karaoke song
Antony Watson and said, CEO, thank you for your time
this morning. Hope you've enjoyed it.
Speaker 1 (33:20):
Thank you, and I have for more from Carry Wooden Mornings.
Listen live to news Talks at b from nine am weekdays,
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