Big-five banks approach $10b combined bottom line

Bank profits are expected to tiptoe higher in full-year 2026. (Image: Getty)

Fri, 09 Jan 2026

The cash-flush drawers at the nation’s biggest banks have snapped shut on a testing full-year 2025. Andy Macdonald takes a peek at what was and what’s next for the top end of the deposit-taking sector.New Zealand’s five biggest banks are within coo-ee of landing a whopping combined net profit after tax of $10 billion, or about $1,820 extracted from every person in the country today.This realisation came as the bigger five – Australian-owned ANZ, ASB, BNZ and Westpac, along with NZ-battler Kiwibank – hit a total net...

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