ANZ recognises 2026 INFINZ Award winners

ANZ New Zealand’s CEO Antonia Watson has recognised the winners of 2026 INFINZ Awards, which celebrates innovation and excellence across New Zealand’s financial services ecosystem.

“We’re delighted to see so many of our customers recognised across multiple categories. Congratulations to all the award winners, and to our ANZ teams for the role they’ve played in supporting these outcomes,” said Antonia Watson.

“It’s a strong example of the collaboration and innovation happening right across New Zealand’s financial and capital markets.”

She gave a special congratulations to Rebecca Kingi, ANZ ESG Initiatives Lead, who was the winner of the Emerging Leader of the Year Award. 

Rebecca was recognised for her outstanding leadership in elevating ANZ’s modern slavery response, translating her deep technical expertise into real impact across the bank, industry and public policy landscape.

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ANZ New Zealand’s CEO Antonia Watson (L) and Rebecca Kingi, ANZ ESG Initiatives Lead (R)

Alison Gerry, a Non-Executive Director of ANZ Group and former Director of ANZ Bank New Zealand was inducted as an INFINZ Distinguished Fellow at the awards, recognising her longstanding contribution to the New Zealand finance and capital markets, having held multiple roles across corporate and financial institutions. 

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Alison Gerry, Non-Executive Director of ANZ Group

ANZ was also recognised for its work alongside the following winners:

NZ Debt Market Issue of the Year – Community Housing Funding Agency (CHFA).

ANZ acted as Sole Arranger, Lead Manager and Sustainability Coordinator on CHFA’s inaugural NZ$200m Social Bond – New Zealand’s first domestic Social Bond. 

The judges were impressed by the highly innovative transaction, establishing a new institutional asset class, and unlocking a new low-cost funding stream for Community Housing Providers. 

By lowering the funding costs of each delivered social housing unit by circa $100,000 over 25-years, it will enable close to 20% more social housing units per dollar of Crown funding, helping to deliver safe, affordable housing for thousands of New Zealanders.

Debt Deal of the Year – 280GWh Tauhei Solar Farm: Senior debt facilities

ANZ acted as a lender and hedging bank to support sponsors Harmony Energy New Zealand and Clarus company First Renewables. 

The innovative project finance transaction supports the build of what will be New Zealand’s largest solar farm to date, deepening renewable energy capacity in New Zealand, while supporting job creation and local community & environmental benefits. 

The judges highlighted the transaction for its scale and complexity, which has helped to deepen renewable energy project finance capability in NZ. 

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Rebecca Kingi, ANZ ESG Initiatives Lead (L) Brendon Mahood, Director, ANZ Institutional (C) and Dean Spicer, Head of Sustainable Finance NZ, ANZ Institutional (R)