Thank you for inviting ANZ to appear today. Joining me is Mark Hand, our Group Executive for our Australia Retail and Commercial division.
This has been a year in which your communities, and our customers, have faced significant loss and uncertainty.
The bushfires and the pandemic have profoundly disrupted lives and livelihoods.
In particular, our thoughts are with those families who have lost loved ones, including in ANZ’s home state of Victoria.
While there have been challenges and distress, recent months have also seen resilience, patience and support.
Communities have worked together, businesses have adapted and Government policies, like JobKeeper, have been enormously successful.
This is also our moment to help where we can.
I want to highlight two of the ways in which we are doing this.
First, we are offering customers breathing room on their loans.
We are deferring payments on $9.5 billion of business loans held by our Commercial Banking customers and on $31 billion of home loans.[i]
As the deferrals finish, we believe most will resume paying down their loan.
And, encouragingly, we’ve already seen a number of customers make some kind of repayment.
However, the reality is that some will need further help.
I receive daily emails from customers telling me their stories and I’ve listened to check-in calls with customers on deferrals.
These have reinforced to me that the pandemic has impacted people in very different ways.
Some, like a business owner I listened to, have seen trade decline and will need more time before returning to full repayments.
Others, like a home loan customer I heard about, are being supported by JobSeeker and may benefit from financial counselling.
Because people’s situations differ, we’ll need to work with our customers on solutions that are fair and appropriate for them.
This might involve paying interest only for a while, changing the length of a loan, consolidating debts or a further deferral.
Of course there may sadly be cases where we need to help customers wind up their debts.
Where this happens I want to assure the Committee that we will be ethical and sensitive in our actions.
We stand ready to help and I would encourage any customer of ANZ who needs further assistance to contact us.
The second way we are helping is by funding business.
While the crisis has hurt many some will come out of this stronger.
Times like this offer opportunities for new markets and new ways of serving customers.
It is unsurprising that demand for credit has dropped as business waits to see what the future brings.
Our job is to make it as easy as possible for those small businesses that reasonably need new funding.
For example we've increased maximum interest only periods for business to 10 years pushed loan terms out to 30 years.
And support small businesses growing launched new online lending tool gives around 1 million existing ability apply conditional approval loans up $200000 just minutes access funds four days.
Together government second guarantee scheme get capital Australia's sector grow employ more people.
These measures build initiatives start crisis including offer pre-approved limit increases commercial overdrafts.
While supporting expertise balance sheet weighted towards larger companies banking employ millions where economy most.
March alone provided $7 billion large institutional about same net previous year able because strong position built capital give breathing keep absorb potential losses strength balance allowed pay prudent interim dividend know retirees others rely dividends pleased declare one balancing interests bank stronger learnt lessons Royal Commission sense fairness purpose informing simpler without advice superannuation insurance better focus delivering look ahead remain cautiously hopeful even though streets Melbourne empty today emerging bright spots agriculture resources quickly adapt particularly effective policy governments temporarily aided electronic signing contracts mortgages reforms welcome commerce moving can't together physically making changes permanent provide basis innovation growth aid recovery finish recognise supporting coming months significant challenges industry however ready work ahead reforms culture recent together today's policies given right settings absorb economic shock path growth thank questions
[i] See ANZ’s 2020 Third Quarter Update Investor Discussion Pack (19 August 2020) pages 8-11 for more detail on these assistance measures. ‘Business loans’ refers to loans to customers in our ‘Commercial Banking’ portfolio. The Investor Discussion Pack is available at: https://www.anz.com/content/dam/anzcom/shareholder/3Q20-investor-discussion-pack.pdf.