Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ)

Shares / Stock Code

ANZ

Stock Exchange / Sharemarket

ax

Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) provides a wide range of financial products and services to individuals, small businesses, corporate, institutional and rural clients in Australia and New Zealand. Through a joint venture with ING, ANZ also provides funds management and insurance services. The company was listed on the Australian Stock Exchange on the 30th of September 1969. Charles B Goode is the Chaiman and Michael Smith s the CEO.

Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) Company History

Australia and New Zealand Banking Group's (ANZ's) predecessor, Bank of Australasia was established in 1835 in London under royal charter. In 1951, the Bank of Australia merged with the Union Bank of Australasia to form ANZ Bank. In 1970, ANZ Bank merged with the English, Scottish and Australian Bank Limited to form the present organization, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group. Following the merger, ANZ made several important acquisitions. ANZ acquired the Bank of Adelaide in 1979; Grindlays Bank in 1984; the Barclays operations in Fiji and Vanuatu in 1985; and PostBank, New Zealand in 1989. In 1990, it acquired the National Mutual Royal Bank, Town and Country WA Building Society, Lloyds' operation in Papua New Guinea and the Bank of New Zealand’s Fiji operations.

In Asia: ANZ entered Vietnem and China by opening branches in Hanoi and Shanghai and representative offices in Ho Chi Minh City and Guangzhou in 1993. It also formed a joint venture with PT Panin Bank, Indonesia in the same year The bank opened a commercial banking branch in Manilla, Philippines in 1995.

In 1996, ANZ joined a smart card joint venture with Mondex, CBA, NAB and Westpac. During 1999, ANZ launched its Internet banking service and announced a strategic alliance with E*Trade Australia to develop its on-line share trading service. It also acquired Amerika Samoa Bank in the same year. ANZ announced the sale of its Grindlays businesses in the Middle East and South Asia, and associated Grindlays Private Banking business, to Standard Chartered in 2000.

The company acquired 75% stake in Bank of Kiribati in 2001 and in 2002, it entered into a joint venture with ING for funds management and life insurance business in Australia and New Zealand. In late 2003, ANZ acquired the National Bank of New Zealand from Lloyds TSB. This made ANZ the largest bank in New Zealand.