Last year saw Australia and New Zealand Banking Corporation (ASX: ANZ) shares facing a sea of volatility. However, the silver lining may be that it heralded the ANZ share price's best day on the ASX in recent history.
On 17 March 2020, the ANZ share price gained a massive 11.85% in a single session. It started the day trading for $16.45 and finished it at $18.40.
Even more impressive, the singular day's gains came amid a strong downward trend driven by the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Between 21 February 2020 and 27 March 2020, the ANZ share price fell a whopping 43%.
So, what happened on 17 March? Let's take a look.
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COVID-19 update
On 17 March 2020, the ANZ share price was boosted on the back of a COVID-19 update.
The update came in the form of a transcript of an interview with ANZ's CEO Shayne Elliott. The interview had been conducted by the managing editor of ANZ's own media publication Bluenotes.
Elliott spoke of ANZ's "framework" that the bank was using the manage the pandemic.
He said the bank planned to protect its customers and employees first and it was undergoing an adaptation in response to the unprecedented times.
Elliott also noted its businesses were going to rebound which likely eased the minds of many anxious market watchers. The inspired confidence likely caused the ANZ share price's massive gain.
Elliott told the publication:
As we know, we've gone through lots of crises over the last few decades, whether the Asian financial crisis, global financial crisis and others. When you go into a normal financial crisis actually, it's really hard to see the end, the light at the end of the tunnel because you just don't know how long that recession or that downturn is going to last… But actually, in this case, you sort of have a reasonably good idea. As we mentioned before, you can see that with effective policy and swift action, this can be a three, four, five-month impact…
The other side of it, of course, is that we're in a great position in terms of strength. And what I mean by that is that ANZ — and the banks in Australia as an industry — have never had more capital. Never in our history have we had more capital, we've never had more liquidity.
Elliott also spoke of ANZ's shareholders, saying "they understand the nature of our business is cyclical". He said shareholders knew as long as the bank put customers first, it would come out fine.
Those interested in hearing more of Elliott's view of the early stages of the pandemic's effects on ANZ, can find a video of the full interview here.
ANZ share price snapshot
Since March 17 2020, the ANZ share price has gained 56.9% to well and truly recover from the worst of the pandemic.
Right now, shares in ANZ are going for $28.88 apiece.
