ANZ CEO Nuno Matos scores meeting with RBA governor Michele Bullock
ANZ CEO Nuno Matos will sit down with RBA governor Michele Bullock on July 7 in a post-rates call roundtable.
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Reserve Bank governor Michele Bullock will sit down with ANZ’s new chief executive Nuno Matos at a roundtable in July, alongside invited guests, in what will be the first meeting between two of the most influential people in banking.
Documents released under Freedom of Information reveal the new ANZ boss reached out to the RBA governor in May, the day Mr Matos started as CEO, expressing his desire to meet the central banker and regulator.
The Reserve Bank is one of several regulators that the new ANZ boss must endear himself to amid a tense landing for Shayne Elliott’s successor amid multiple regulatory probes.
Mr Matos is facing an Australian Securities & Investments Commission investigation into allegations ANZ rigged a government bond placement in 2023. It incurred a $500m capital overlay for non-financial risk failures from the prudential regulator, APRA.
ASIC is expected to reach a conclusion on its ANZ investigation by July this year.
Mr Matos’ meeting with Ms Bullock will be the first time the ANZ boss has sat down with one of Australia’s peak regulators publicly since taking on the top job.
In his letter to Ms Bullock, the Portuguese banker, who served at Santander and HSBC, told her ANZ “remains committed to continue working closely with you and your team, as we focus on promoting financial stability and providing banking services to protect and support our customers”.
“I would like to reaffirm my personal commitment to continuing an open and constructive relationship with the Reserve Bank of Australia,” Mr Matos said.
ANZ intends to hold a roundtable at the bank’s Sydney offices with Ms Bullock, under the central bank’s refreshed rules for engagements.
The RBA copped criticism last year for a series of damaging leaks from participants who flouted the central bank’s terms for private briefings with its bankers, who participate assuming they are speaking under the cone of silence.
Westpac was blacklisted for 12 months by the RBA after confidential information from a 2023 roundtable with Ms Bullock was relayed to the market, just months before she took on the top job at the central bank. Clients of the host banks are invited to participate in the closed door sessions.
Similar leaks from sessions between the RBA and RBC Capital Markets and Barrenjoey were subjected to the same fate.
The RBA has previously held private meetings with economists, traders, fund managers, and business executives to test the waters on rates and policy decisions and take feedback from those in the market.
The July meeting between Ms Bullock and Mr Matos will enable ANZ to invite 12 others, including key clients of the bank, traders and executives.
It comes after the RBA cut rates by 25 basis points at its 20 May meeting, taking the cash rate to 3.85 per cent.
However, in the wake of criticism, the RBA has scaled back the nature of its roundtable engagements, with new rules enforcing the Chatham House discussions.
Ms Bullock will only speak to the central bank’s statement of monetary policy issued in the wake of the May meeting.
The central bank has committed to not sharing any confidential or market-sensitive information in the meetings, with attendees to also be restricted from identifying who said what.
“RBA staff will only draw from publicly available materials and will not provide personal views,” the rules note.
“As such, neither the roundtable organiser, nor specific attendees, will benefit commercially, or gain competitive advantage.”
The RBA will also publish a list of which companies or groups were represented at the meeting in a disclosure log, detailing who else spoke to Ms Bullock but not the attending identities.
The RBA is due to publish its first disclosure log, covering May to June, in July.
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Originally published as ANZ CEO Nuno Matos scores meeting with RBA governor Michele Bullock
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