ANZ submission to market study

ANZ Bank New Zealand Limited (ANZ NZ) today acknowledged the publication of its submission to the Commerce Commission on its market study preliminary issues paper.

ANZ NZ CEO Antonia Watson said: “With cost-of-living pressures impacting many households, it is important people have confidence in the banking sector. The market study is an opportunity for us to provide facts about competition in personal banking.

“As we said in our submission, there is already strong competition in personal banking in New Zealand. As an example, 20% of the market’s new home loan commitments in July 2023 were switches from another provider.

“We’ve also provided evidence that ANZ’s profits – and the profits of New Zealand Banks generally – are at a level that is consistent with a competitive banking market and in line with profits earned by comparable international peers.” Research by economic firm Incenta is submitted with ANZ NZ’s response to the preliminary issues paper.

The usual way to measure the profitability of companies is to look at the return on the equity they use, or ROE. The KPMG 2022 Financial Institutions Performance Survey shows the ROE for New Zealand banks was 13.40%, while the average ROE of NZX 50 index companies was 15%.

Ms Watson said it was important the study also recognises the way that regulation, and the broader economic environment, shapes competition and personal banking outcomes.

“Our regulatory environment is set up to ensure that personal banking services are secure and reliable – and that has allowed New Zealand to have a resilient banking environment. But sometimes that same regulation can affect which providers are able to provide personal banking services or can make it difficult for customers to switch providers.

“Regulation can impact competition in other ways. For example, loan to value ratio (LVR) restrictions reduce the risk of impacts if there is a sharp change in house prices, but they also restrict the supply of loans to certain customers,” Ms Watson said.

“We look forward to working with the Commission to ensure competition can continue to thrive in New Zealand’s banking sector.”

View and download here:

ANZ NZ’s full submission

Incenta report benchmarking the profitability of New Zealand banks

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