ANZ nerves high ahead of Nuno Matos delivering his vision for the bank, and possibly 2000 job cuts
New boss Nuno Matos is yet to reveal his plan for the bank amid earnings pressure and an analyst’s claim up to 2000 jobs could go. A third executive, Mark Evans, will depart as the new CEO reshapes the top of the bank.
ANZ staff are getting jumpy that the bank’s new boss Nuno Matos is planning to slash jobs when he articulates his vision for the lender, as analysts warn nearly 2000 roles could be sacrificed to restore earnings growth.
Mr Matos has been telling analysts in closed door briefings over recent weeks he plans to transform the bank. Meanwhile, ANZ’s newest executive recruit, Mark Evans, will retire from the bank just four months after he was parachuted in from Singapore to steer a cultural makeover in the wake of the Oliver Wyman report finding issues with leadership accountability for non-financial risk.
The speculation has reached the Finance Sector Union, which is seeking a meeting with ANZ over concerns about what the new chief executive is planning.
ANZ’s design, technology, and migration teams have been identified as targets for headcount reductions, where as many as 200 jobs could go, insiders say.
Other teams are also drawing up plans for substantial cuts.
Other sources said ANZ was focused on slashing “duplicated” roles and may send more offshore to its India base in Bengaluru, formerly Bangalore, a city of 8.4 million people.
FSU national president Wendy Streets accused Mr Matos of treating ANZ staff as “disposable”.
“Reducing duplication is simply code for intensifying workloads and expecting fewer people to do more,” she said.
ANZ declined to comment.
Sources close to two analyst roundtables held with Mr Matos relayed that the bank boss had made clear his priorities in thematic terms.
These include improving accountability across ANZ.
Already, ANZ’s retail bank boss Maile Carnegie, the architect of the ANZ Plus homegrown technology project, has departed. She retired on July 1.
Ms Carnegie was succeeded by Suncorp Bank boss Bruce Rush, who had been handling the integration of the Queensland-based lender which ANZ bought in 2024.
One attendee noted how Mr Matos had expressed his surprise, after taking charge, at its handling of the Suncorp Bank integration alongside the work being done on ANZ Plus.
Gerard Florian, running technology and group services, retired on August 4.
The Portuguese-born former HSBC banker started on May 12, drawing a line under the Shayne Elliott era.
Sources said other ANZ talent at the meeting acknowledged that Mr Matos was clearly cost focused, with the career banker identifying that he wanted to lower the cost to serve customers.
But Mr Matos is yet to publicly signpost his strategy, and declined to be interviewed.
ANZ is now running three core banking systems concurrently, leading to the rise of different teams serving Suncorp Bank, ANZ Plus, and ANZ Classic brands.
Analysts are expecting a market update from Mr Matos and ANZ management in September or October, ahead of the bank’s annual result due in November.
ANZ rules off its financial year on September 30.
A S&P Global Market Intelligence report noted ANZ was likely to offer no growth in its dividend, unlike the other three majors.
The S&P analysts warned pressure on bank margins after the Reserve Bank’s rate cuts was squeezing interest earnings.
Already, Mr Matos has held several 1 on 1 meetings with ANZ’s key superannuation and institutional investors.
MST Marquee senior analyst Brian Johnson warned ANZ could slash up to 2000 jobs, a cut he described as increasingly “plausible”.
That could represent a $500m cost cutting program, to be announced at the strategy update.
ANZ employs 42,370 people.
The bank has a hiring freeze in place and has hired consulting firm McKinsey.
“We think new CEO Nuno Matos is the change agent long suffering ANZ shareholders deserve,” Mr Johnson said.
ANZ is also expected to update shareholders on its non-financial risk transformation, in the wake of a $500m capital charge and orders from the prudential regulator in April, when it slapped ANZ with an extra $250m penalty, taking issue with its trading floor. It already had a $250m penalty in place.
ANZ’s board has been regularly meeting to discuss the non-financial risk issues.
ANZ Institutional Bank boss Mark Whelan expressed comfort with the progress of the bank’s work on non-financial risk at one of the meetings.
This all comes as the Australian Securities and Investments Commission is preparing to decide whether to take action against the bank over an alleged government bond market manipulation scandal.
ANZ traders allegedly rigged a $14bn government bond auction in the bank’s favour, and supplied incorrect data to the Australian Office of Financial Management, the government’s debt agency. ANZ denies wrongdoing.
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