ANZ Banking Group's board has defended as "meaningful and appropriate" its action to dock senior bankers' pay following failures exposed by the Hayne inquiry, after it was hit with a first strike at its annual meeting, with 34 per cent of investors giving the remuneration report the thumbs down.

After ANZ chairman David Gonski described the year as "confronting" and acknowledged "the very real concerns of those who have voted against the report", the chairman of the board's human resources committee, Ilana Atlas, sought to assure shareholders ANZ was cutting pay in line with new community expectations.