The emergence of mortgage “maverick” Macquarie has pushed ANZ’s long-argued takeover of Suncorp’s banking arm over the line after a tribunal brushed aside regulators determined to block the $4.9 billion mega-deal.

While the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission had rejected the efforts to merge last year, ANZ and Suncorp successfully appealed the ruling. The Australian Competition Tribunal ultimately found that the deal would not hurt competition in home, business or agribusiness lending.