Category: Banking and Finance

Source: ANZ statements

Funded by ANZ employees, the Community Foundation sees every dollar staff contribute through the workplace giving program matched by the Bank with an additional two dollars. Since 1988, around 951 grants valued at more than $7.2 million have been distributed to groups across Australia.

Chair of the Foundation, Christine Linden said: “The power of giving back to improve lives and empower communities is at the heart of ANZ’s Community Foundation. I continue to be inspired by the ingenuity and dedication of our community partners and their efforts to make a meaningful difference using the generous donations contributed through our workplace giving program.”

“The ANZ Community Foundation is committed to making a meaningful impact by funding projects in the areas of housing, financial wellbeing and environmental sustainability. This year we have been able to increase both the number of grants and the amount of funds distributed and I look forward to seeing the ongoing impact of these projects and initiatives as they come to life,” Ms Linden said.

In 2023, 20 grants were given, with the average recipient receiving $22,000. Four each were distributed in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland; three each in Western Australia and South Australia; and two in Tasmania. 

About ANZ Community Foundation: ANZ Community Foundation uses regular donations of ANZ Staff to provide grants to small yet impactful charities and organisations in local communities. The Foundation is a charitable trust funded by staff payroll donations and managed by ANZ staff – a National Advisory Board and State Committees. ANZ staff can join the Foundation and make regular donations from their pay which is matched by the bank at the rate of $2 for every dollar donated. ANZ covers all administration costs, so donations are tripled and go straight to charities across Australia.

About ANZ Workplace Giving: Since inception, ANZ’s Workplace Giving program has distributed more than $23 million to our community partners. ANZ won the ‘Best Employer Grants Program’ category at the 2022 Australian Workplace Giving Awards. At the 2020 Workplace Giving Excellence Awards, ANZ won the ‘Best Employer Response to a Crisis’ category, and was recognised with Silver in the Most Innovative Charity & Employer Partnership together with The Smith Family.

Source: ANZ statements

Consumer confidence increased 4.4pts, the four-week moving average was up 1.6pts.

Among the mainland states, confidence rose in NSW, Victoria, Queensland, and WA, but fell in SA.

‘Weekly inflation expectations’ fell 0.6ppt to 5.0%, while the four-week moving average declined to 5.4% from 5.5%.

All the confidence subindices registered gains. ‘Current financial conditions’ jumped 9pts and ‘future financial conditions’ were up 3.0pts.

‘Current economic conditions’ rose 3.4pts and ‘future economic conditions’ gained 5.4pts.

The ‘time to buy a major household item’ increased slightly by 1.6pts after an 8.7pts decline in the week before.

Source: ANZ statements

This follows an earlier judgment, delivered on 13 October 2023, in which the Court found that ANZ should have notified the ASX of the joint lead managers’ take-up of shares in its 2015 institutional share placement.

The Court has today ordered ANZ to pay a civil penalty of $900,000 in relation to a continuous disclosure contravention that the Court found occurred on 7 August 2015. 

ANZ is considering today’s decision together with the judgment delivered in October.

Source: ANZ statements

ANZ Samoa Country Head, Sucharu Tandon, said: “We know that one of the biggest perceived barriers to digital banking is the cost of data, yet the reality is that using the ANZ Pacific App to check your account balance or make a payment uses very little data – particularly when compared to watching a video on social media.

“Digital banking is key to overcoming a number of challenges, including distance to banking services and cost of accessing these services.

“The value of digital banking is not just about helping our customers to bank on their own terms. It’s part of embracing a digital future that is important for all of us.

“We’ve seen a 19% year on year increase in the number of active users of the ANZ Pacific App. We hope to see this number grow even higher as a result of this offer, and we thank Vodafone Samoa and Digicel Samoa for bringing this to life for our customers,” Mr Tandon said.

Vodafone Samoa CEO, Rana Bose, said: “We are excited to support ANZ Samoa in this revolutionary step towards digital banking in Samoa by waiving data charges for Vodafone Samoa customers using the ANZ Pacific App. This is a gateway to a seamless banking experience, a step towards the digital economy and making banking a universally empowering experience in Samoa. As always: Together We Can!”

Digicel Samoa CEO, Anthony Seuseu, said: “In an era where connectivity is at the heart of progress, Digicel Samoa is excited about this ground breaking partnership with ANZ. By providing data-free access to the ANZ Pacific App in Samoa, we’re making significant strides to ensure secure and convenient banking services. This collaboration underscores our commitment to innovative solutions, envisioning a future where digital financial services are easily accessible, transcending barriers for a more connected and prosperous community.”

Central Bank of Samoa Governor, Maiava Atalina Ainuu-Enari, said: “The ANZ Samoa partnership with Vodafone Samoa and Digicel Samoa is indeed welcome news. It exemplifies the spirit of collaboration that underpins our financial inclusion efforts. This announcement follows the launch of our National Financial Inclusion Strategy 2.0 on 14 November, and I congratulate and commend everyone involved in this important initiative to benefit our people.”

Source: ANZ statements

Consumer confidence decreased 0.3pts, the four-week moving average was also down 0.3pts.

Among the mainland states, confidence rose in Victoria, Queensland, and SA, while it fell in NSW and WA.

‘Weekly inflation expectations’ rose 0.2ppt to 5.6%, while the four-week moving average remained at 5.5%.

‘Current financial conditions’ dropped 3.1pts, while ‘future financial conditions’ jumped 9.1pts after a 3.8pts fall the week before.

‘Current economic conditions’ were up 1.6pts and ‘future economic conditions’ fell 0.5pts.

The ‘time to buy a major household item’ subindex plunged 8.7pts, more than reversing the 7.1pts gain from the previous week.

Source: ANZ statements

ANZ Economist, Madeline Dunk said: “ANZ-Indeed Australian Job Ads has fallen a cumulative 8.4% over the last three months, but the series remains very high compared to historical levels. The decline in job opportunities highlights that the labour market is cooling, and points to a further lift in the unemployment rate(Figure 1). Our new hours-based full employment indicator, the FTE-Pop, suggests the RBA has increased the cash rate enough to reduce the inflationary pressures coming from the labour market. We expect the number of job ads to moderate as the impacts of this tightening cycle continue to show up in the labour market.”

Indeed Senior Economist, Callam Pickering said: “The monthly decline in ANZ-Indeed Job Ads was the largest since June 2018,excluding the pandemic. The decline over the past three months has been concentrated in New South Wales and Victoria, with a smaller subtraction from Queensland and South Australia. Western Australia and Tasmania defied the national trend. Job Ads fell the most in the therapy, sales and software development categories, offsetting gains in food preparation, education and mechanical engineering opportunities.”

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Source: ANZ statements

ANZ’s Chief Executive Officer Shayne Elliott said: “Over the past year we’ve seen a 54% increase in the number of people signing up to our flagship financial education program, MoneyMinded, a return to pre-pandemic participation numbers.

“Improving the financial wellbeing of people and communities is core to our strategy at ANZ, and it was great to see participants had a particular interest in developing good savings habits and setting financial goals.

“For more than 20 years, MoneyMinded has given us the opportunity to provide trusted financial education resources to community workers and financial counsellors enabling them to support participants from low income and disadvantaged communities in Australia, New Zealand, Asia and the Pacific – something we’re very proud of,” Mr Elliott said.

MoneyMinded is delivered in collaboration with community partners including Berry Street, Brotherhood of St Laurence, and The Smith Family.

“Our community partners are key to the delivery of this program. We’re grateful to the thousands of MoneyMinded coaches across the region who are using MoneyMinded everyday to help improve the financial wellbeing of their clients,” Mr Elliott said.

Highlights from the 2023 MoneyMinded Impact report include:

• 83,974 people used the MoneyMinded program in the past 12 months (1 October 2022 to 30 September 2023) with 65,720 people across Australia and the Asia Pacific region and 18,254 in New Zealand.
• This is an increase in total participants from 54,624 in 2022 and 64,011 in 2021, marking a return to pre-pandemic levels of delivery.
• 74.8% of MoneyMinded’s Australian participants were women. In New Zealand, Asia and the Pacific combined, just over half (53.6%) were women.
• Roughly one-in-three (32.3%) Australian participants were sole parents. The majority of participants in New Zealand were young adults (88.5%) and 42.8% were seasonal workers is Asia and the Pacific.
• More than 4700 people participated in the MoneyBusiness program, an adaptation of MoneyMinded which aims to help build the money skills and confidence of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
• Victims and survivors of family violence made up a significant proportion of participants (11.6%) in Australia following the re-launch of the MoneyMinded for family violence program in 2022.

Download a full copy of the latest MoneyMinded report and read how the financial education program has made a lasting impact in communities across the Asia Pacific region here.

For more information on the program visit www.anz.com/moneyminded.

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Source: ANZ statements

The relative ‘under-performance’ in Melbourne dwelling values – that has led to a comparatively affordable market over time – is due to more supply of dwelling completions over the past 15 years. ABS building activity data[1] shows there were 21 per cent more dwelling completions in Victoria when compared to NSW in the same period.

In 2023, there was also a further departure in affordability between house and unit values, which currently remain at elevated levels of 28.6 per cent. Prior to the pandemic, the decade average difference between house and unit values nationally was 7.3 per cent.

ANZ Senior Economist, Adelaide Timbrell said: “The time to save a 20 per cent deposit has only shifted by around two months nationally for units since the onset of COVID-19, while for houses the time to save has blown out by almost two years.”

“This presents a clear shift for those hoping to enter the housing market, as units have stayed within a reasonable price range for new home buyers, while houses have become more out of reach.”

Regional dwelling markets are also seeing a sustained uplift in purchase values since the start of the pandemic, even more than the capital city dwelling markets, highlighting that regional Australia is no longer the affordable alternative to capital cities.

CoreLogic Head of Australian Research Eliza Owen said: “Regional Australia is often thought of as a more affordable alternative for housing, a way to reduce housing costs by compromising distance to major employment hubs.”

“The COVID-boom in regional migration and values means it’s really not that much more affordable now, and there’s very little difference in the combined regional and capital city affordability metrics.”

As of October, the regional Australian dwelling market has sustained a 44.4 per cent uplift in dwelling purchase values since the start of COVID, compared with a 26.4 per cent uplift across the capital city dwelling market.

 “In 2024, housing affordability is likely to get worse before it gets better. Dwelling supply will continue to be strained by the high interest rate environment, which has reduced approvals and potential for new housing development in 2024. Demand will probably be the only thing can adjust in the short term, so we may see average people per household rise,” Miss Owen said.

Source: ANZ statements

Consumer confidence increased 2.0pts, while the four-week moving average was up 0.4pts.

Among the mainland states, confidence rose in NSW and Queensland, while it fell in Victoria, SA and WA.

‘Weekly inflation expectations’ fell 0.2ppt to 5.4%, while the four-week moving average remained at 5.5%.

‘Current financial conditions’ rose 1.3pts, while ‘future financial conditions’ dropped 3.8pts.

‘Current economic conditions’ were up3.7pts and ‘future economic conditions’ gained 1.6pts.

The ‘time to buy a major household item’ subindex jumped 7.1pts after a 4.5pts increase the week before.