ANZ New Zealand's boss is defending its record-high profit

Our largest bank has seen annual profit surge 21-percent to 2.53 billion dollars -- largely due to good returns from hedging investments.

But Chief Executive Antonia Watson says underlying profit's only up about four-percent.

She says OCR cuts are being passed on to customers at a sustainable pace, and banks are competing hard for customers.

Watson says in an average month, 25-percent of customers whose home loans are coming up for renewal are switching.