ANZ's three larger rivals have started considering lending without applying the 3% buffer, saying it is disadvantaging some borrowers.
"Of course we should build in buffers," ANZ CEO Shayne Elliott told parliament in a regular hearing the country's main bank bosses are required to attend.
Even first home buyers who bought soon before the rate hikes, the category most exposed to higher repayments, "are performing remarkably well", Elliott said.
People coming off low fixed-rate mortgages, facing far higher variable rates, were "less stressed than the average customer," he added.
($1 = 1.4939 Australian dollars)Reporting by Byron Kaye; Editing by Stephen CoatesOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Persons:
Shayne Elliott, Elliott, They're, it's, Byron Kaye, Stephen Coates
Organizations:
SYDNEY, ANZ Group, Prudential Regulation Authority, APRA, ANZ, Thomson