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 has over 25 years’ experience in the professional services and financial services sector in New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Australia and Hungary.

Antonia Watson joined ANZ from Morgan Stanley, where she was General Manager of their business services and technology centre in Budapest and held various Finance roles in Sydney and London. She qualified as a chartered accountant at KPMG.

She has a Bachelor of Commerce with Honours from the University of Otago.

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.