ANZ learning how to please customers from National Bank acquisition

3.00pm

The ANZ Bank says the National Bank of New Zealand is teaching it how to improve its relationship with customers.

The ANZ bought the National Bank from Britain's Lloyds TSB last year for $6.27 billion. The deal got Reserve Bank approval on the condition it would run two banks in tandem, with separate boards and brands.

In recent years, ANZ New Zealand has suffered from poor ratings in banking customer satisfaction surveys while the National Bank has been consistently highly placed.

At a presentation to analysts this morning in Auckland, ANZ chief financial officer Peter Marriott said the ANZ in both New Zealand and Australia had learned much from the National Bank's operations.

"It's brought with it an understanding about how to be successful in the consumer stakes," Mr Marriott said.

"We've already seen the Australian consumer business leaders starting to learn some of the lessons of how the National Bank of New Zealand has been so successful and how that can be leveraged back into Australia."

ANZ New Zealand/National Bank managing director Sir John Anderson, who has previously overseen bank mergers, said neither bank had seen any decline in customer numbers since the acquisition.

"We are already seeing how well the dual brand and integration strategy is working with momentum in lending, new customers and high levels of staff satisfaction," Sir John, the former National Bank chief executive said.

The integration of ANZ New Zealand and the National Bank was expected to be completed by the end of 2005, the bank said.

It said the National Bank had enjoyed a strong underlying performance in the year ended December 2003 with net profit up 12.3 per cent excluding pro-forma and acquisition adjustments.

The bank told analysts that momentum in New Zealand lending in 2003 had continued into early 2004 following the removal of uncertainty regarding the acquisition and management actions to rebuild and grow market share.

It said the National Bank had continued to experience growth in net customer numbers in January and February 2004, reflecting a positive staff and customer reaction to the dual-branding strategy.

"In the three months since completion overall customer attrition has been negligible, there have been no material financial or risk surprises and we have continued to be impressed by the quality of the business," Mr Marriott said.

Sir John said the bank was working though integration planning and the next step was to commence detailed discussions on technology with the Reserve Bank of New Zealand.

Meanwhile, ANZ reaffirmed its guidance of nine per cent cash earnings per share growth over the 2004 financial year across the entire group.

"Credit quality is continuing to improve assisted by lower specific provisions in the group's offshore portfolio," the bank said in a statement.

ANZ reaffirmed the forecasts made late last month. The bank is set to report its profit for the six months to March 31, 2004 on April 27.

- NZPA