Category: Economy

Source: ANZ statements

The Court found that ANZ should have advised the market of the joint lead managers’ take-up of shares in its 2015 institutional share placement. The maximum penalty is $1 million.

ANZ is reviewing the judgment.

Approved for distribution by ANZ’s Continuous Disclosure Committee

Source: ANZ statements

Consumer confidence rose 1.9 points last week, and the four-week moving average increased by 0.6 points.

Among the mainland states, confidence rose in New South Wales, Victoria, and Queensland, while it fell in South Australia and Western Australia.

The ‘weekly inflation expectations’ index softened 0.1 percentage points to 5.1 per cent, while the four-week moving average stayed at 5.2 per cent.

‘Current financial conditions’ rose 3.2 points, moving above 70 for the first time since April. ‘Future financial conditions’ increased 1.7 points.

‘Current economic conditions’ rose 1.0 points after two straight weeks of declines. ‘Future economic conditions’ gained 1.6 points. The ‘time to buy a major household item’ subindex improved 2.1 points.

Source: ANZ statements

Neil Mitchell: Do you agree? Do you think it’s finishing?

Shayne Elliott: No, I actually don’t think it’s finished, and I think that’s probably wishful thinking on many people’s part. We might like people to be back, but I think the world has changed and I don’t think we’re going to go back to the way it was. No.

Neil Mitchell: What? Never?

Shayne Elliott: No, never. I think the world has gone through a real change here. And look, we should probably focus on why we care about it, and why five days a week is the right answer in the first place. And I think it’s worth reminding people that for, not everybody, but for companies like us, we were never at 100 per cent five days a week. We never had that. I mean, we at ANZ, and I know, we’re not everybody, but we only ever had two thirds of our people in on any given day. And it depends on what you do for a living, but the work is different. Our people are out talking to customers. They’re sometimes working from home, they’re part time, they’re job sharing, they’re in the office, they’re in a branch – they’re all over the place, you know. So, people driving around, talking to customers. I don’t think that the idea, that romantic idea that everybody was nine to five, five days a week and that somehow was nirvana either from a productivity point of view or from a work experience point of view. And somehow, we all wish we could go back to that. So no, I don’t think we will go back, but I do think we’ll get more people back in the office than we are today.

Neil Mitchell: What percentage would you have in the office now?

Shayne Elliott: So, we are two thirds of what we used to be. So that still means we’re only at about 40ish per cent of all our people in the office. But we were, as I said, we were never at 100, ever. So, you know, that’s just the way of the world today.

Neil Mitchell: Would you like that figure to be better? Would you like more people?

Shayne Elliott: Yes. I would. And I would like it to be better. And, you know, there is evidence – and you and I have talked about it before – I get the numbers literally every single day. I know how many people are in the building. It is still going up over, gently. So, you know, it’s not like it’s peaked. We’re still getting more and more people coming in over time. The reason I want people in is, frankly, it’s not for me. It’s not even necessary for the banks benefit because I think we can run the bank pretty well where we are today. It’s for them. I think people, particularly younger people – but not just – I think it’s good. I think it’s good for sort of social cohesion. I’m coaching people on the job, you know, career progression, learning, training, all of those things I think really benefit from people mixing with others from different backgrounds, different experiences. And it’s a way that you learn.

Neil Mitchell: City still feel a bit empty to you?

Shayne Elliott: Well, it didn’t last night when it was pouring with rain, and I was here at 6 o’clock having to race up to the other end of Collins Street. It took me 40 minutes, now except I was in a car. I accept that, but 40 minutes from one end of Collins Street to the other, it absolutely did not feel empty to me.

Neil Mitchell: Is there still that – and we talked about this before too – is there still a need for the state government to get the public service back to send a message?

Shayne Elliott: Oh, I think that will help. I think, you know, setting standards and norms and, you know, people look around them and what’s everybody else doing right. And absolutely. And if the births, deaths and marriages, I didn’t know that, if they’re closed and you set a standard and say it’s okay to be closed. Yeah you do. I think those things matter. And it’s like any form of leadership, like individual leadership, people look at what the boss does, what he says, what he talks about, how he behaves or she. And, you know, it’s the same with government. If government say it’s okay not to be in the office, then everybody will say, well, then why do I have to be? So, I do think there’s some leadership to be shown. Yes.

Neil Mitchell: I thank you for interrupting your day. Thanks for just one thing though. You’re that voice of reason that comforts me every time on the state of the economy. How are we going?

Shayne Elliott: Oh, I don’t know I’m going to give you much comfort today. I think things have a hit, not a wall, that’s not fair. Things are a little bit tougher today than they were eight weeks ago. And you might say, gee, eight weeks, that’s not very long. We have had a bit of a turning point and we see it in our data, Neil, people are cutting back on their spending. What’s really interesting in the bank, so people, if you’re a bank customer, it means you’re probably a little bit better off. And that’s a whole other subject we can talk about. But people are cutting back to save more. So, they’re not cutting back because they don’t have any money to spend. Our customers, what we’re saying, they’re cutting back and putting it into the bank to save because they’re a bit more worried than they were eight weeks ago. Yeah, now we can begin to try and unpack all that, so people are a bit worried more around cost of living, petrol pump prices. Look at these, I mean, rent numbers are shocking, right? So, people are a little bit more worried than they were before, but at the end of the day. Hey, we live in a wealthy country. The savings balances of Australians are at all time highs. I’m looking at something. I’ll send you a chart later. The financial assets of the average Australian household, and I accept the average. The average has never been stronger and so there’s lots of cotton wool and protection in the system for most people. And what we really need to be worried about are those at the fringe that don’t have those protections. The renters.

Neil Mitchell: I always love looking at a chart. Thank you very much for your time.

Shayne Elliott: I’ll send it straight over. Talk to you later.

Neil Mitchell: Chief executive of the ANZ, Shayne Elliott.

Source: ANZ statements

ANZ Economist Madeline Dunk said: “ANZ-Indeed Australian Job Ads remained steady in September, falling just 0.1% m/m. The series has demonstrated remarkable staying power recently and has lifted 2.2% over the last three months. The Australian labour market is loosening. While things are still tight, the underemployment rate has been creeping upwards, the unemployment rate has risen to 3.7% and hours worked fell in August. This continued cooling of the labour market should help temper any future gains in Job Ads.”

Indeed Senior Economist Callam Pickering said: “Over the past three months, the overall increase in Job Ads has been concentrated in education and healthcare, specifically therapy, doctors and nurses. Even retail has rebounded a little owing to strong Christmas hiring. Gains in these areas have offset ongoing weakness in tech and food preparation. Job Ads have increased in almost half of occupational sectors over the past three months, reflecting a notable change from the broad-based declines observed earlier this year.”

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Source: ANZ statements

Consumer confidence rose 1.8pts, and the four-week moving average declined 0.1pts.

Confidence rose in all states and territories other than Queensland and the ACT.

‘Weekly inflation expectations’ softened 0.2ppt to 5.2%, while the four-week moving average was unchanged at 5.2%.

‘Current financial conditions’ were up 3.2pts and ‘Future financial conditions’ increased 2.4pts.

‘Current economic conditions’ decreased by 0.6pts, while ‘Future economic conditions’ rose 3.2pts.

The ‘Time to buy a major household item’ subindex improved 0.3pts.

Source: ANZ statements

Consumer confidence fell 3.4pts, and the four-week moving average declined 0.4pts.

Confidence fell in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia, but was unchanged in South Australia.

‘Weekly inflation expectations’ rose 0.5ppt to 5.4%, while the four-week moving average was unchanged at 5.2%.

‘Current financial conditions’ were down 2.8pts and ‘Future financial conditions’ dropped 8.3pts.

‘Current economic conditions’ decreased by 2.0pts and ‘Future economic conditions’ weakened 2.8pts.

The ‘Time to buy a major household item’ subindex fell 0.8pts.

Source: ANZ statements

As a member of the Executive Committee, Ms Clements will be responsible for leading the talent and culture function across the Bank, helping shape the core capabilities of ANZ’s global workforce to support its strategic ambitions.

Ms Clements has more than 25 years of people leadership experience in large global organisations, most recently as General Manager Talent and Culture for ANZ Institutional. Since joining ANZ in 2007, she also held senior roles across Corporate & Commercial Banking and Group Technology and Operations.

Commenting on the appointment, Mr Elliott said: “After a comprehensive selection process, I’m pleased that our deep pool of talent allowed us to appoint such a highly-qualified internal candidate to this important role for the Bank.

“Elisa is a strong leader who helped build the culture and performance of the Institutional division through a period of significant reshaping and growth. I’m confident she brings the right skills and experience to further embed our culture while helping prepare our people for the rapidly evolving future of banking.”

Subject to regulatory approval, Ms Clements is expected to begin in the role next month and will be based in Melbourne.

Source: ANZ statements

OPENING STATEMENT

Shayne Elliott, ANZ CEO

Appearance before Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee

Senate inquiry into bank closures in regional Australia

20 September 2023

[Check against delivery]

Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today.

With me is Katherine Bray, Managing Director, Retail.

Katherine has overall responsibility for our branches and the other ways that we serve our customers.

No doubt you will have heard a lot of statistics today about how customers are changing the way they bank and how banks are responding. I don’t imagine our data is very different to anyone else’s, but what is different is the way ANZ goes about our business and how we drive value for Australians.

ANZ is almost 200 years old, and while on the face of it we may look very similar to our peers, our business is vastly different.

ANZ operates in 30 markets around the world, connecting Australian businesses and people, many of them in regional areas, with global opportunity.

We are well known for facilitating the flow of goods and capital to and from Australia. And I like to think we do that pretty well. Around 60% of all the money flowing into Australia from trade or capital flow is processed through ANZ. We are the biggest provider of banking infrastructure to other banks in Australia that allows them to compete and offer their customers services like real time and international payments.

Our business servicing households and small businesses here in Australia is the smallest of the big banks and in fact, is around half the size of CBA and Westpac. From that perspective, we are actually closer in size to Bendigo or Macquarie Bank.

I only mention that because by definition, it means we have to compete differently.

We absolutely want to grow our business serving households and small businesses across Australia, including in the regions – it’s one of our top strategic priorities. But we don’t have the scale or advantages that others have, and so we are pursuing a strategy to bring services to where customers predominantly want to bank – in their home, at their place of business or online.

For clarity, ANZ today has a network of 390 branches across Australia. Of these, 140, around a third, are located regionally. We spend $665 million a year to support this network.

ANZ also has more than 2,500 mobile lending and business bankers across Australia, including more than 300 based in the regions, who can meet with customers at a place and time that suits them.

As we have heard today, the development of digital services has transformed the way customers interact with businesses across industries. We partnered with researchers at the University of South Australia to understand the impact to older Australians. They found that most older people like and accept the online banking environment and that Australians over 65 are responding in line with younger cohorts in adopting digital banking. Some, such as those with hearing loss, are particularly embracing online banking and rarely use local branches for transactions.

The research reflects what ANZ sees in our own customer base. Our retail banking team have made more than 60,000 calls to customers aged over 65 to assist with digital banking. Through those calls we identified that more than 90 per cent of these customers use at least one self-service option to do their banking, such as our ANZ App, internet banking or ATMs. Almost half a million ANZ customers over 65 years of age are already digitally active.

While most customers prefer digital channels for many of their transactions, branches continue to be important.

We know that closing a branch can have a big impact on communities and we do not make that decision lightly.

When we do make the difficult decision to close a branch, we work hard to support our employees and our customers.

The initial step after a decision is made involves advising our people. We believe they deserve certainty concerning their roles with the bank.

And it’s for that reason that we have been concerned about models involving community consultation before a decision is made to close a branch.

We are concerned that a public consultative process would be unsettling for our people.

We try very hard to look after our staff when we close branches. Re-deployment has proved popular with many of our people, including through the provision of remote working options. For those that do choose to leave the Bank we have generous redundancy provisions and we provide grants of up to $10,000 for new career training.

Now once we have told our staff, we then work with our customers.

Our dedicated Customer Care team calls customers who have used the branch at least twice in the last six months, or who are aged over 65. We check in with these customers and help them move to alternative banking methods, including digital, if that’s what they want.

We are always looking at ways to better serve our customers.

Since 2021, our customers have had more ATMs to access for free through our agreement with Armaguard and their network of ATMs. Our mobile lenders are able to meet customers at their home, business or farm including outside of business hours and on weekends. Customer satisfaction is high for this service, with a net promoter score above 90%. And we have strived, but not yet been successful, in reaching a fair and proportionate agreement with Australia Post to use the Bank@Post services.

In closing, I would like to assure the Committee that, as we have done with the Regional Banking Taskforce, ANZ is committed to working constructively with you to support Australia’s regional communities.

Thank you and Kath and I welcome your questions.

ENDS

Source: ANZ statements

Almost 20 per cent of Australians live with a disability and yet they are represented in only one percent of advertising.

The Shift 20 Initiative is a coalition of some of Australia’s largest brands and aims to transform disability representation by normalising disability on our screens.

ANZ has a long-standing commitment to inclusivity with several programs, products and partnerships that aim to drive and embed accessibility and inclusion across all aspects of the organisation.

ANZ General Manager of Marketing, Sian Chadwick said: “ANZ’s involvement in the Shift 20 Initiative is a continuation of our commitment to diversity, accessibility, and inclusion. ANZ has been championing this space for a long time, including disability representation in our advertising briefings and casting. It’s important for us to be deliberate about making sure we are equally representing members of the Australian community.

“We are excited to be involved in this initiative, and our hope is that we see appropriate and effective disability representation become second nature to advertisers.”

ANZ Group Executive Technology and Executive Sponsor of Accessibility, Gerard Florian said: “As one of the largest brands in Australia, it’s our role to represent the communities in which we live. By considering the needs of everyone, innovations can emerge which offer more inclusive products and services to benefit the whole community.”

In support of the campaign, ANZ alongside a number of Australian brands have transformed existing TVCs to include actors with both visible and invisible disabilities.

ANZ re-shot the final scene of a recent TVC, replacing the original talent with an actor with a limb difference. Importantly, this commitment to visibility for people with disability in ANZ ads is not new. The original TVC featured an actor who is a bilateral above knee amputee, but this simple and powerful change increases the representation in a more deliberate way.

ANZ’s advertising has and will continue to consider and ensure representation is inclusive across ability, ethnicity, and gender.

ANZ’s commitment to accessibility:
ANZ is committed to ensuring our workplace welcomes, supports and celebrates the unique contributions of all our people, and ensuring our products and services are inclusive and accessible to everyone. We understand that disability is relevant to every aspect of our business – customers, employees, markets, communities, suppliers and key stakeholders.

We are committed to building a more accessible bank for our customers, employees, and the wider community. Our Accessibility and Inclusion Plan 2023 – 2025 includes 14 new commitments across four focus areas. Each commitment is intrinsically linked to our purpose to shape a world where people and communities thrive, creating opportunities for us to better serve our customers and build inclusive workplaces and thriving careers.

About the Shift 20 Initiative:

Shift 20 Initiative was created by Dylan Alcott Foundation, Special and some of Australia’s leading brands to increase representation, inclusion and accessibility for people living with disability in marketing and communications. The initiative demonstrates the importance of disability representation on-screen, by encouraging brands to commit to fair representation of people with disability, whilst providing the opportunity and opening doors for people with disability to see themselves on screen.