Westpac NZ, which was the only bank among the Big Four to make a specific provision for the September earthquake, said yesterday that it expects credit losses of up to NZ$100 million from the February 22 Christchurch earthquake. Westpac said the precise financial impact is difficult to quantify at this stage and provided a wide range - $30 million to $100 million - for expected credit losses. The bank has home lending exposure in Canterbury of around $3 billion, and an estimated 1,500 mortgages were affected by the September earthquake. Westpac didn't provide an estimate of the number of mortgages affected by the more recent February quake. Nor did it indicate what its business lending exposure is in Christchurch. It expensed $3.5 million in the September 2010 period. This was for expenses associated with managing its business post-quake. It made a specific provision of $10.2 million to cover credit losses related to the September quake. Reserve Bank of New Zealand Governor Alan Bollard said recently that the central bank was talking to banks about risk of impairments from the commercial and residential sectors. Bollard indicated there is greater risk from the business-side, which looks more vulnerable, but there weren't many reports of people walking away from their mortgages. Meanwhile, ASB said it couldn't estimate as yet the loss arising from the recent earthquake. "ASB has advances to customers, branch operations and employees in the region which have been impacted by the earthquake," the bank said.