ANZ NZ CEO & ANZ Group Executive Antonia Watson to retire

12/06/2026 08:30 NZST, ADMIN

ANZ Bank New Zealand (ANZ NZ) CEO and ANZ Bank Group Executive Antonia Watson will be retiring at the end

of FY26.

Ms Watson, who has been at ANZ NZ since 2009 and been its CEO and a Group Executive since 2019, will

officially finish on 30 September 2026.

She will be replaced as ANZ NZ CEO and Group Executive by ANZ NZ Chief Risk Officer Ben Kelleher.

Mr Kelleher has been ANZ NZ’s Chief Risk Officer for more than two years and before that Managing Director, Personal

Banking for five. He has also led ANZ NZ’s Private Banking and Strategy teams. Before ANZ NZ, he worked in New

Zealand and the UK in strategy, analyst and project management roles. He has a Master’s in Management,

Finance and Economics with distinction and a Bachelor’s degree with first class honours from the University of

Waikato.

Mr Kelleher’s appointment is subject to Reserve Bank of New Zealand non-objection and other regulatory

engagement.

For media enquiries contact:

Marsha Jacobs

Acting Head of External Communications

Tel: +61 482 131 724

Briar McCormack

NZ Head of External Communications and Content

Tel: +64 21 2801173

For analyst enquiries contact:

Kylie Bundrock

Group General Manager, Investor Relations and M&A

Tel: +61 403 738 809