In 1951, the Bank of Australasia merged with Union Bank of Australia to form the Australia and New Zealand Bank Limited. In 1963, the first computer systems established in new data processing centre in Melbourne, Australia. In 1966, ANZ began operations in Honiara, Solomon Islands. In 1968, ANZ opened an office in New York, USA. In 1969, ANZ established a representative office in Tokyo, Japan.
1970s
On 1 October 1970, ANZ merged with the English, Scottish and Australian Bank Limited to form the present organisation, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited. That same year, the bank began operating in Vanuatu. In 1976, ANZ was established. In 1977, ANZ transferred its incorporation from the UK to Australia. In 1979, ANZ acquired the Bank of Adelaide.
1980s
In 1980, the Singapore and New York representative offices upgraded to branch status. In 1984, ANZ purchased Grindlays Bank. In 1985, ANZ acquired Barclays’ operations in Fiji and Vanuatu. That same year, the bank received a full commercial bankinglicence and opened a branch in Frankfurt, Germany, and announced ANZ Singapore Limited. In 1988, ANZ opened branches in Rarotonga, Cook Islands and Paris, France. In 1989, ANZ purchased PostBank from New Zealand Government.
1990s
During the 1990s, the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group acquired several banks. In 1990, this included National Mutual Royal Bank Limited in March and the Town and Country Building Society in Western Australia in July. That same year, ANZ purchased Lloyd Bank's operations in Papua New Guinea and the Bank of New Zealand's operations in Fiji. In 1993, ANZ established new headquarters in Melbourne, Australia. They also opened new branches in Hanoi, Vietnam, and Shanghai, China, and began a joint venture with PT Panin Bank in Indonesia. That year they also began operating in Tonga and sold their Canadian operations acquired via the purchase of Grindlays Bank in 1984 to HSBC Bank Canada. Throughout the late 1990s, ANZ opened new branches in several locations, including Manila, Philippines, and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. In 1997, John McFarlane was appointed Chief Executive Officer and the bank opened its Beijing branch. In 1999, ANZ formed a strategic alliance with E*Trade Australia for online share trading and purchased Amerika Samoa Bank.
21st century
In 2000, ANZ sold its Grindlays businesses in the Middle East and South Asia, and associated Grindlays Private Banking business to Standard Chartered. In 2001, ANZ opened branches in Timor Leste and began offering credit card services in Hong Kong. In 2002, ANZ formed a joint venture with ING Group for wealth management and life insurance business in Australia and New Zealand. The next year, ANZ acquired the National Bank of New Zealand. In 2005, ANZ established the ANZ Royal Bank in Cambodia, a joint venture with the Cambodian-based Royal Group company. In 2006, ANZ announced a new world headquarters in the Melbourne Docklands and invested in the Bank of Tianjin, China. In 2007, ANZ acquired E*Trade Australia and Citizen Securities Bank in Guam. Also in 2007, Mike Smith, formerly of HSBC, became CEO after the retirement of John McFarlane in October and the company took over the naming rights sponsorship for Sydney's Stadium Australia. In August 2009, ANZ purchased the Royal Bank of Scotland's operations in six Asian countries for $550 million. In September the company announced it would buy out ING Group's 51% stake of the joint venture, giving ANZ 100% control of ING Australia. In November, ANZ opened their new headquarters in Melbourne. In 2010, ANZ acquired the RBS' interests in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Indonesia. That year ANZ also expanded its stake in the Bank of Tianjin. In November, ING Australia was renamed OnePath. In 2012, ANZ announced the retirement of the National Bank brand in New Zealand. In 2013, ANZ became the first bank to reopen in the Christchurch CBD following the 2011 earthquakes. In 2016, Shayne Elliott became CEO. In April ANZ partnered with Apple Inc. to bring Apple Pay to its customers. In 2017, ANZ acquired REALas property price predictor start-up. In 2018, the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry heard that ANZ had failed to accurately verify the living expenses of home loan customers referred to the bank by mortgage brokers, believing that this was the responsibility of the brokers, in spite of a conflict of interest in doing so; and that, due to processing issues, it had charged nearly 500,000 home loan customers the incorrect interest rate for more than ten years, leading the bank to overcharge customers by approximately $90 million.
ANZ is one of the leading Australian banks in the Asia-Pacific region. It has been aggressive in its expansion into the emerging markets of China, Vietnam and Indonesia. ANZ is also a leading bank in New Zealand as well as several Pacific Island Nation where it competes in many markets with fellow Australian bank Westpac. ANZ's arm in New Zealand is operated through a subsidiary company, ANZ National Bank, from 2003 to 2012, when it changed by ANZ Bank New Zealand upon merging the ANZ and National Bank brands. In March 2005, it formed a strategic alliance with Vietnam's Sacombank involving an acquisition of 10% of Sacombank's share capital. As part of the strategic alliance, ANZ will provide technical assistance in the areas of risk management and retail and small business banking. ANZ has followed a similar strategy in China, where it acquired a 20% share in Tianjin City Commercial Bank in July 2006. It also negotiated a similar deal with Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank. In August 2009, ANZ purchased RBS's retail units in Taiwan, Singapore, Indonesia and Hong Kong, as well as RBS'si banking businesses in Taiwan, the Philippines and Vietnam. It was purchased for the price of A$687 million. As of September 2012, the company had a total of 1,337 branches worldwide. In 2016, ANZ adopted less aggressive approach to expansion in the Asia-Pacific region after low returns. At the end of October 2016 ANZ announced the sale of its Asian retail and wealth management operations to the Development Bank of Singapore; ANZ also signalled a withdrawal from its "Asian pivot".
Advertising and sponsorships
In 2005, an advertisement included two famous robots: Lost in Spacerobot, and a Dalek from Doctor Who, although the Dalek was replaced in subsequent versions of the ad. In 2006, the company started a TV campaign with a series of ads featuring their new mascot – the Falcon, a bird trained to stop credit card thieves, illustrating the company's measures in prevention of credit card fraud. In 2010, ANZ ran an ad campaign parodying common banking scenarios with a fictional character known as 'Barbara who lives in Bank World', a middle-aged, rude, sarcastic and unhelpful bank manager. The adverts have received acclaim for wit and humour, but also criticism for stereotyping bank managers. Barbara is portrayed by Australian comedian Genevieve Morris. In 2010, ANZ spent $195m in Australia on advertising. In 2011, a series of ads were fronted by Simon Baker, the star of the American television show The Mentalist. According to a 2014 top 20 list of advertising spends, ANZ was in the top 20. In 2015, ANZ held a campaign in sync with the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. In 2016, New Zealand ANZ had the highest spend of any bank. One third of ANZ's spend on media is said to be digital.
New headquarters
In September 2006, plans were unveiled for ANZ's new world headquarters to be located in Melbourne's Docklands precinct. The complex features a vast low rise office building, shops, car and bicycle parking facilities. The new complex will enable 6,500 ANZ staff to work in one integrated area, however the company will maintain its flagship building, 100 Queen Street Melbourne. The new headquarters is the largest office complex in Australia at 84,500 m² NLA, 130,000 sqm GFA and an accredited 6 Green Star Building. Construction commenced in late 2006 and the building opened in late 2009. The building is located at 833 Collins Street. It has been designed by HASSELL & Lend Lease Design – fronting the Yarra River. In 2006, it was expected to cost A$478 million to build, but ended up costing $750 million by the time it was complete in 2009. The building was one of the winners at the 2010 World Architecture Festival in the category "Interiors and Fit Out of the Year". ANZ announced in 2016 that it would be selling its old Melbourne headquarters. The old bank building, fronting Collins Street, in Melbourne, was purpose built as the head office of the English, Scottish & Australian Bank from 1883–87.
Controversies
Manipulation of benchmark interest rates and other key metrics
In 2016, ANZ and 10 of its traders were named as being the subject of legal proceedings for manipulation of the benchmark inter-bank interest rates in Australia; specifically ASIC has made claims of unconscionable conduct and manipulation against ANZ. ANZ has attempted to deny the claims and says it will defend the claim in court. Formal filings of the originating process in this regards were made against ANZ on 4 March 2016. Since that time ASIC has compounded their claim against the ANZ. In a separate court appearance in November 2016 ANZ admitted to 10 instances of attempted cartel conduct regarding alleged manipulation of the Malaysian ringgit. The wider market rigging case has been reported as likely lasting into 2018.
Agriculture and child labour
ANZ has been the subject of claims that it has backed agriculture and timber companies that engage in so called 'land grabs'. In 2014, ANZ faced allegations that it funded a Cambodian sugar plantation that has involved child labour, military-backed land grabs, forced evictions and food shortages.
Litigious approach
ANZ has also been criticised in the Senate for its allegedly "hard boiled" approach to farmers exposed to the fallout from ANZ's purchase of the Landmark loan book. One submission to the Senate inquiry into bank conduct mentioned one farmer self-immolating after alleged defaults occurring. Another former customer in the Senate inquiry was mentioned as being subjected to victimisation by receivers and police, including use of SWAT teams and being held at gun-point. In 2016 it was reported that ANZ was accused of racism in a high-profile court case involving the businessman Pankaj Oswal and his wife; specifically it was reported that an email contained comments stating that, ""We are dealing with Indians with no moral compass and an Indian woman , as every bit as devious as PO,” and "This has been a very Indian characteristic transaction." The ANZ agreed to a settlement for an undisclosed amount in respect of the legal claim made by the Oswals.
Culture
ANZ CEO Shayne Elliott admitted in 2016 that "culture" will be one of the biggest challenges for ANZ. Media reports have included allegations of sexism, drug use and bravado culture. In 2016, ANZ was pursued in court over its suggesting on social media that criticism of the bank's chief financial officer might have been sexist, which resulted in the broker at Bell Potter losing his job. Former ANZ director John Dahlsen in 2016 admitted that there are issues with bank culture and competition. In November 2016, there were further claims of sexist conduct and a separate lawsuit was filed against ANZ in the United States regarding staff at its New York office.
Malaysian scandal
In early 2016, ANZ was also mentioned in a scandal in Malaysia involving one of ANZ's subsidiaries and the Malaysian leader. The incident has raised questions for ANZ. ANZ admitted in November 2016 that it had little ability to control its affiliate.
In 2016, there was an incident reported involving the Financial Ombudsman Service, where the Financial Ombudsman Service presented misleading file notes to the Supreme Court of Victoria, in the discovery phase of a case involving ANZ, to the benefit of ANZ's case. The ANZ has not commented on the scandal as yet.
Out-sourcing of jobs
ANZ has continued to out-source jobs in countries other than Australia and this has caused some controversy with some outlets. ANZ have been progressively increasing work output from offshore offices. ANZ's Bangalore office has been operational since 1989, making it one of the first organisations to employ IT staff based in India. ANZ employs around 4,800 staff in Bangalore, India. 1500 IT positions, 2000 positions in Payments and Institutional Operations and International and High Value Services and 1300 positions in Operations Personal Banking have been shifted from Melbourne to India. In 2006, ANZ predicted that by 2010, over 2000 jobs would have been shifted from Australia to Bangalore. In 2012, ANZ transferred 360 permanent staff from Melbourne and Bangalore to Capgemini. All these staff worked in the Technology Testing and Environment Space. As ANZ CIO Anne announced earlier that ANZ want a Hybrid model of technology in order to achieve the 2017 Technology roadmap.
Anti-competitive conduct
Despite the ANZ taking advantage of block-chain technology the ANZ had blocked businesses making use of bitcoin. The ANZ was investigated by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and was cleared of colluding with other banks on the issue of bitcoin based business. A number of prominent Senators have called the investigation into question and continue to criticise the conduct of ANZ and other large banks on this matter.
ANZ was reported as appearing in 7,548 of the Mossack Fonseca documents in the Panama Papers, reflecting the bank's extensive work in New Zealand, the Cook Islands, Samoa and Jersey.
Criminal cartel charges
On 1 June 2018, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission announced that criminal cartel charges are expected to be laid by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions against ANZ Bank, its Group Treasurer Rick Moscati, along with Deutsche Bank, Citigroup and a number of individuals.
