"Feeling pretty good": ANZ heartened by agriculture sector's performance despite overall drop in profits

Our largest bank is continuing to see some people thriving and other people proving remarkably resilient. 

ANZ New Zealand's reporting a statutory net profit of $2.36 billion – down 7% on last year, due in part to increased competition between banks. 

Export industries continue to do well, with agricultural lending up 2.8% to $15.8 billion and farm deposits jumping 15.4%. 

ANZ Agricultural Economist Matt Dilly told Mike Hosking they're feeling pretty good about how the agricultural business is doing, and there's plenty of money out there to lend. 

He says the payout from Fonterra's sale to Lactalis earlier this year boosted things, but they're seeing really good performance across most of the portfolio.  

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