ANZ CEO Nuno Matos targets mortgage and business growth, early end to Suncorp Bank
ANZ’s new chief Nuno Matos has laid out a plan to slash costs by $800m, add hundreds of mortgage brokers inside branches and banish the Suncorp Bank brand early.
New ANZ chief executive Nuno Matos will end its Suncorp Bank experiment early and present one unified brand to the market under his strategy to extract $1.3bn in costs and financial benefits.
Mr Matos promoted his plan for the Melbourne-based lender to the market on Monday, impatient with the performance of ANZ’s retail and business banking arms which have trailed their competition.
Since landing at ANZ in May, he has signalled his intention to cull 3500 jobs and 1000 consultants which was followed on Monday by a hard target for cost savings: $800m by next financial year, and an upgraded $500m in synergies from absorbing Suncorp Bank by 2027.
He told investors ANZ had “not consistently lived up to the expectations of our customers across all our business, in particular in Australia, retail and commercial”.
“The most important strategic shift I want to underline today is how we are going to get back to growth by relentlessly focusing on customers across every segment and business of ANZ,” he said.
For his vision to suceed, he will need growth.
The CEO wants to add 50 per cent more mortgage lenders inside ANZ branches, and 50 per cent more business bankers supported by an internal training academy. ANZ’s idiosyncratic franchised home lending business has also meant it is not as profitable as other banks writing mortgages.
ANZ’s withdrawal of a $2000 cashback offer from the market was a “message to ourselves”, aimed at instilling discipline in the bank Mr Matos said.
The bank’s $4.9bn bid to buy Suncorp Bank and restore the market share it held before the Covid-19 pandemic is now a single-brand proposition. ANZ acquired the bank and its 3000 staff in July 2024.
As well, Mr Matos made it clear ANZ would “exit non-bank activities that lack economic or strategic rationale”.
Sixty per cent of the nearly 3500 staff set to go from the bank would come from its retail division. But the Portuguese-born banker declined to reveal where the rest of the cuts would come from.
Mr Matos told The Australian they would not be frontline roles.
“We will not disclose exactly which roles,” he said. “We are talking about basically middle office corporate centre roles.”
ANZ has been planning to withdraw Suncorp Bank products from the market by the end of 2026 as it prepares for full integration of the legacy lender, as revealed in The Australian in September.
ANZ attempted to hose down the revelation at the time, saying: “We’re proud of the strength of the Suncorp Bank business and focused on supporting its ongoing growth.”
But as of Monday, Mr Matos confirmed Suncorp Bank would be extinguished under an accelerated timeline set to cost $745m.
ANZ Plus will be the new customer offering for ANZ and Suncorp Bank.
But Mr Matos was hardly enthusiastic about ANZ Plus - the brainchild of former boss Shayne Elliott - describing it as “inefficient”, “expensive” and its rollout too slow.
He intends to fast-track it into a single digital “front end” for all eight million customers by September 2027.
In March this year, ANZ was touting plans to have all new customers joined to ANZ Plus from late 2027.
Last week, Mr Matos announced a trio of new executives, including McKinsey partner Pedro Rodeia, to lead the retail division. Suncorp Bank boss Bruce Rush will continue as acting retail boss until Mr Rodeia starts on November 17.
Mr Matos said these new appointments would drive a cultural reset at the bank.
“We are building a culture of clarity, decisiveness, self-awareness, execution, and accountability,” he said. “A culture based on talent and performance. You have to focus on customer needs, promote healthy and sustainable ambition, external competitiveness, and a desire to outperform while ensuring compliance with no shortcuts.”
Mr Matos insisted he wants a “significantly simpler” retail business with “one team, one brand, one channel and one technology system, as we accelerate both the delivery of ANZ Plus front-end and integrating Suncorp Bank”.
Mr Matos also set ambitious financial targets for ANZ, including lifting return on equity from around 10 per cent to 12 per cent by 2028.
He also committed to achieving a cost-to-income ratio - a key measure of a bank’s efficiency - in the “mid-40s” by 2028. ANZ currently has an inferior cost-to-income ratio of 52.3 per cent in the 2024 financial year.
ANZ’s board said it was “confident in the strategy and with the capital actions announced today”.
But the union representing workers at ANZ who are at risk of losing their jobs told the bank to stop the “chaos, secrecy and disrespect for its workforce”.
The Finance Sector Union said ANZ was cutting 3500 jobs without “genuine consultation or care for the people who have built and sustained the bank”. It is also demanding Mr Matos “guarantee that no worker will lose their job or pay because of technology or structural change and make sure all staff are treated fairly and given secure work”.
A conciliation meeting held before the Fair Work Commission between the FSU and ANZ on Monday achieved no significant outcome.
ANZ told investors it would also bring to an early end its remaining $800m share buyback, after selling it to the market in May last year.
The bank said it would offer investors a 1.5 per cent discount on shares reinvested in the next two dividend reinvestment plans, which would not be neutralised, meaning each share issued would not be countered by an equivalent share bought back.
However, ANZ will hold its dividend steady at its upcoming results on November 10.
The stock rose 3.3 per cent amid falls in rival banks, to close up $1.15 to $36.01.
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Originally published as ANZ CEO Nuno Matos targets mortgage and business growth, early end to Suncorp Bank
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