Suncorp attacks Bendigo counterfactual in ANZ merger appeal
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The news: Suncorp has begun its attack on an ACCC decision to block its proposed merger with ANZ, focusing on the regulator's counterfactual that without the merger, Bendigo & Adelaide Bank could make an alternative bid to Suncorp Group's banking business.
"The whole emphasis on Bendigo counterfactual is in one sense unclear," Suncorp barrister Cameron Moore SC told the Competition Tribunal on Thursday, before going into closed court due to the confidential nature of the commercial information under review.
Moore said key benefits of a banking merger would ordinarily deliver scale but that's not the case with a counterfactual Bendigo-Suncorp deal.
"Putting them together does not assist either Bendigo or Suncorp," Moore told the court.
The numbers: ANZ agreed to buy Suncorp’s banking business for $4.9 billion in a deal announced in July 2022.
The context: On announcing its decision in August, ACCC deputy chair Mick Keogh said the regulator was concerned the deal would “further entrench an oligopoly market structure that is concentrated, with the four major banks dominating”.
ANZ and Suncorp have decided to apply for a review of the ACCC decision before the Australian Competition Tribunal, with hearings running through 15 December.
Moore said today that because of Suncorp's association with Suncorp Insurance, the bank sits "three notches above Bendigo's rating of BBB+, at a rating of A+".
