ANZ releases strategy for next five years and will cancel its $800m buyback
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More news: Speaking at ANZ's strategy update this morning, chief executive Nuno Matos said the pace of the rollout of ANZ Plus has been “too slow”.
What they said: “This has led to structural and system duplication, brand and channel ambiguity, and created a financial burden for the group," Matos said.
“This was due to two major factors. On one hand, the sequence of development was predominantly vertical, product by product, which put the customer at the end of the journey, meaning we will only have a viable end to end proposition when all products were built in our middleware and subsequently reflected in our front end.
“Second, our delivery model was inefficient. It was expensive. With complex processes, lack of prioritisation and capability gaps.
“To be clear, we are fully committed to delivering ANZ Plus, but in a different sequence and through a new, much more efficient delivery model.”
ANZ releases strategy for next five years and will cancel its $800m buyback
The news: ANZ has announced its strategy for the next five years which includes a commitment to deliver ANZ Plus, its delayed new banking platform. The bank will also cancel its $800 million buyback.
The context: The bank’s five immediate priorities are:
- Embedding the bank’s new leadership team;
- Integrating Suncorp Bank faster;
- Accelerating the deliver of the ANZ Plus digital front-end to all retail and small business customers; and
- Enhancing non-financial risk management to improve customer outcomes.
ANZ also announced it would make capital management actions including:
- Ceasing the remaining $800 million share buyback to allow the bank to return surplus capital of around $1 billion from its non-operating holding company to the bank; and
- Applying a 1.5% discount on the next dividend reinvestment plans which it also expects to not be neutralised.
ANZ noted that it would take “end-of-year specific items that impact capital” and that two-thirds of this included its restructure charges and its $240 million settlement with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).
On ANZ Plus, the bank said it aimed to upgrade 8 million retail customers in Australia to the platform by September 2027, and deliver it to small business customers by the end of FY27.
The bank also noted that it had delivered its Root Cause Remediation Plan to the prudential regulator and expected its work in fixing its non-financial risk issues to take three years. The first year would be dedicated to design, followed by two years to implement and embed.
On its retail bank, ANZ said it looked to increase the number of lenders in branches by up to 50%.
Today’s strategy day will be conducted at the same time as a meeting with the Fair Work Commission brought on by the Finance Sector Union (FSU) over the bank's handling of its restructure that will see 3,500 staff members lose their jobs.
ANZ’s shares last closed at $34.86 and over the past 12 months have jumped 12.96%.
What they said: ANZ chief executive Nuno Matos said: “Under our new strategy, customers are at the centre of everything we do — whether it’s improving their experiences, offering them leading technologies and platforms, or keeping them safe”.
“Our first focus is to get back to basics and deliver our immediate priorities, while our four strategic pillars will then accelerate our revenue growth and see all four division perform to their full potential,” he said.
The FSU national president Wendy Streets said ANZ workers had been blindsided multiple times by finding out about the restructure and following changes to the bank through the media.
“We've taken this fight to the Fair Work Commission because workers at ANZ deserve clarity and honesty,” Streets said.
“ANZ's so-called transformation has been defined by confusion, fear and secrecy and that needs to end now. If Mr Matos wants to talk to investors about growth and innovation, he should start with accountability and fairness.”
The source: ASX
