ANZ on the home stretch with new banking platform, ANZ Plus

ANZ is readying to run all new retail bank customers through its new banking platform, in a bid to slash costs at the bank.

ANZ retail banking head Maile Carnegie. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

ANZ is 18 months from directing all new customers to its new ­banking platform, as the plans to push out ANZ Plus to millions more savers and borrowers gathers pace.

At a briefing on Monday, the bank said its $2bn ANZ Plus project was poised to deliver dividends, untangling legacy systems, but the banking giant has still to deliver several key functions years after launch. ANZ said it was trialling accessing ANZ Plus on computers, with the platform currently only accessible to users via a phone app.

It comes as ANZ prepares to transition one million or so Suncorp Bank customers to ANZ Plus before moving to the more difficult task of ANZ’s five million ­retail bank users.

The bank is also readying to onboard all new customers through ANZ Plus, with plans to funnel all new business through the platform within 18 months.

ANZ retail banking head Maile Carnegie said the tough work of building ANZ Plus had been done, noting the platform was now ­advanced enough that many new offerings could be bolted on.

“We’ve kind of broken the back of this thing and we’re now building the stuff that’s highly visible, highly exciting,” she said.

Ms Carnegie said ANZ had completed the technology to ­migrate clients to ANZ Plus, noting it was intended to work more like an “upgrade” than a new banking experience. Customers will retain account numbers, login details, and attached cards.

Banking major ANZ will retain legacy features for older customers. Picture: Getty Images.

ANZ has touted the cost ­opportunities from ANZ Plus, spruiking the chance to slash huge chunks of its cost base. Customer acquisition costs are estimated to be 45 per cent lower on ANZ Plus compared to the bank’s legacy platforms.

Ongoing servicing costs are estimated to be as much as 35 per cent lower.

ANZ is also looking to cut costs from its tech teams, with nearly 4000 staff working on systems across the retail business. Of these, almost 1100 are working on ANZ Plus, with almost 2000 sitting across legacy platforms.

But Ms Carnegie acknowledged the bank wouldn’t be able to close down its legacy systems overnight, noting many older or vulnerable customers might need continued support rather than being rolled into the tech heavy ANZ Plus. She said this was why ANZ was retaining its core banking platform.

Ms Carnegie said ANZ Plus was being built to handle cash, but ideally wouldn’t offer customers the ability to bank with cheques.

This comes as the Australian Securities & Investments Commission is running the ruler over ANZ’s retail bank.

The Australian previously ­revealed the corporate regulator was probing the bank’s hardship handling as well as payment of ­interest on savings and deposits products.

ASIC is also investigating ANZ over allegations of misconduct in its markets business.