I agree, looking at the (relatively) slow growth of their...

I agree, looking at the (relatively) slow growth of their mortgage book over time I suspect they correctly always kept a keen eye on risk management, which now should shield them compared with others. I remember year ago they were targeting a home loan pool many times larger than what they achieved.

On top of this having the jobkeeper and jobseeker programs in place probably has helped a bunch of their clients to keep on top of payments.

That said, for me, I've taken the seeming cessation of activity in the buy back as a sign that they are preparing for a risk in defaults (both lending clients but also some people on payment plans who cease being able to service the debt servicing agreement) and accumulating cash in case its required. Let's hope it isn't as the buy back was an efficient way of effectively returning providing returns to shareholders - but in the current climate I can understand why they would be wanting to keep cash aside.