NZAB Insights

Why Has Australian Agri Debt Surged While NZ's Has Flatlined?

May 29, 2025 9:32:19 AM / by Andrew Laming posted in Debt, Action, Planning, Budget, Banking, Strategy

Information only disclaimer. The information and commentary in this email are provided for general information purposes only. We recommend the recipients seek financial advice about their circumstances from their adviser before making any financial or investment decision or taking any action.

While working on a recent project for a large Australian asset holder, I came across the Reserve Bank of Australia’s consolidated Agri debt figures. I decided to compare them with the New Zealand data.

The result is striking.

The Smart Farmer's Guide to Dairy Conversion

May 19, 2025 11:45:52 AM / by Andrew Laming posted in Debt, Action, Planning, Budget, Banking, Strategy

0 Comments

There’s increasing chatter about dairy conversions again—especially here in Canterbury—and it’s easy to see why. In many cases, the extra returns far outweigh the costs. That contrast becomes even starker when compared with lower-yielding farming systems.

Turning a non-dairy farm, whether sheep and beef, deer, or cropping, into a dairy platform is a major strategic move. While dairy can offer strong cashflow and asset growth, it also demands serious capital, operational change and long-term commitment.

At NZAB, we’ve helped fund countless dairy conversions and seen the highs and lows of the sector. Below are some hard-earned lessons worth considering.

Agri Lending Market Share Changes

May 12, 2025 2:06:14 PM / by Andrew Laming posted in Debt, Action, Planning, Budget, Banking, Strategy

0 Comments

As a follow-up to the Agri Banking Dashboard that we recently circulated, we thought we’d share a couple of graphs illustrating the changes since 2018.

Firstly, market share changes since 2018:

The NZAB Banking Dashboard

Apr 3, 2025 4:17:24 PM / by Andrew Laming posted in Debt, Action, Planning, Budget, Banking, Strategy

0 Comments

We’ve dived back into the RBNZ data to see all the main bank movements over the last six months (to December 2024) - all the changes in lending, who’s winning market share and who’s losing it - in both the Agri and Business Lending Sectors.

In this Issue:

Total loan growth over the last 12 months among the registered banks was ~$17.4bn - consistent with the prior period.
However, of the $17.4bn, Agri lending was flat and whilst business went ahead $3.0bn,- this still means the vast majority of new capital went into the home loan sector once again ( +$14.5bn).
ANZ continues to shed Agri and business loans - collectively they lent $1.3bn less to these sectors over the last 12 months (and $0.94bn over the last 6 months), whilst at the same time increasing home loans by $3.4bn.
The four main Australian banks collectively lent $11.3bn to the home loan sector over the last 12 months, but only advanced lending to business and farming by $0.93bn.
Rabo officially became the second largest Agri lender in NZ, surpassing BNZ and increasing market share by 74bps for the year.
Dairy loans continue their ongoing repayment profile, reducing by nearly $400m for the year. We expect this to pick up from here with significantly more dairy cash coming in over the second half of the year.
Agri lending provisions were largely flat over the year, continuing the ongoing low levels seen in this sector.

As always, please sing out if you have any questions or would like to use the data in your own presentations or engagement with customers. We would be happy to provide a digital version for sending.