It is starting talks with the regulator and the Queensland government
ANZ is accelerating its efforts to complete its $4.9 billion acquisition of Suncorp’s banking business, including starting talks with the Queensland government, formalising an integration team and lodging a submission with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
ANZ CEO Shayne Elliott told The Australian that the bank was in the “early state” of the process with the ACCC and the Queensland government. Both the competition regulator and the government need to sign off on the deal.
A draft submission by the bank to the ACCC opens a four- to six-week period of engagement ahead of the submission being finalised and released for consultation.
“ACCC is the most important for now,” Elliott told The Australian. “The Queensland government has a role to play … they want to see what’s in it for Queensland, and that’s entirely appropriate. “We’ve had only very initial discussions with them about how we will engage, so we’ll talk to them, we’ll go and make our case. We haven’t done that formally yet about why this is good for Queensland, and we’re really confident it can be.”
Elliott said he didn’t think the deal would hinder competition, and that it would benefit banking customers and employment in the state.
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“We’re a big organisation, and we’re going to get bigger if we’re successful there,” Elliott said. “We’ve got lots of things to build, to grow, to invest in, and we can put some of that investment into Queensland.”
Treasurer Jim Chalmers will also have to sign off on the deal, although he will await advice from the ACCC, The Australian reported.
Recently, ANZ appointed Louise Higgins, who was finance chief for the bank’s Australian business, to lead the Suncorp integration. The bank hopes to close the deal in the second half of calendar 2023 if it gains the necessary approvals.
“We’ve got quite a significant team setting up at ANZ thinking about how do we get ready so once this is approved that we can get going as quickly as possible,” Elliott told The Australian.
Elliott said ANZ was prepared to take on a large integration program despite the challenging economy thanks to its drive to divest non-core businesses.
“We feel ready for it because we are simpler today,” he said. “We’ve sold 29 businesses, including life insurance and retail Asia and dealer finance and share-trading platforms … we’ve simplified back to our core, and now we want one of those core businesses to get bigger. So we’re very confident we’ve got the skills to be able to take this on. It’s not going to be easy – there will be all sorts of things to do – but I’m pretty confident we have the capacity and capability to do that.”
