ANZ Chief Nuno Matos Warns MPs of ‘Dangerous Situation’ as Stocks, Rates Hit Records
ANZ chief executive Nuno Matos has told Australian MPs that global markets are in a "dangerous situation", with share prices and interest rates both sitting
ANZ chief executive Nuno Matos has told Australian MPs that global markets are in a "dangerous situation", with share prices and interest rates both sitting at record highs at the same time.
Matos said he does not expect Australia's economy to fall into recession. He urged governments to think harder about how they compete for global capital.
"We have a very curious situation in the world where we have equity markets at record highs, basically because of the tech wave and basically because of the AI wave, but at the same time you have record highs of interest rates," he said. "It's a dangerous situation."
Four pressures on capital
Matos pointed to four factors that together feed what he described as intense global competition for capital. The first is the build-out of artificial intelligence and data centres, which he said is driving an expenditure super-cycle.
The other three are the current level of government spending, higher and stubborn inflation, and rising interest rates. He called the combination a serious problem.
"Globally, undoubtedly, the combination of those four factors, and Australia is not different in that regard," he said. He made the remarks on the day of his appearance before MPs.
Spending on a scale not seen before
Matos said the scale of investment has no precedent in his experience. "We never saw this amount of spending in our lives, in our lifetimes," he said.
In his account, the tech and AI boom is lifting equity markets to records. Borrowing costs are climbing to records too, and he sees that pairing as the source of the risk.
His message to policymakers was about positioning. Governments, he said, should be asking how their economies can attract capital while the world's biggest spenders compete for the same funds.
Matos said he is not predicting a recession in Australia, even as he described conditions elsewhere in the global system as dangerous.
