Australia and New Zealand Banking Group

Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, commonly called ANZ, is an Australian banking group serving retail, business and institutional customers. Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited is its operating bank; ANZ Group Holdings Limited became its listed parent in 2023. The group conducts business principally in Australia and New Zealand, alongside an international banking network.^[1][2]

Corporate structure and scope

The distinction between ANZ's operating bank and its listed parent matters when reading financial statements, regulatory disclosures and share-market information. On 3 January 2023, ANZ implemented a scheme of arrangement establishing ANZ Group Holdings Limited as the group's new listed parent. The operating bank retained the name Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited. ANZ describes the parent as an authorised non-operating holding company under Australian banking law. Consequently, a reference to “ANZ” can mean the wider consolidated group, the listed parent or the bank itself, depending on context.^[1][2]

ANZ says it provides banking and financial products and services to more than 8.5 million retail and business customers and operates across close to 30 markets. Those figures describe the scale of the group as presented by ANZ, rather than the customer count or geographic reach of the Australian operating bank alone. Its activities extend beyond household accounts and mortgages to business banking and services for institutional clients. Australia and New Zealand are its two principal geographic markets, while its international presence supports parts of its institutional business.^[2][3]

ANZ Group Holdings Limited's 2025 annual report describes an Australian retail business, an Australian commercial business, a New Zealand business and institutional banking activities. The report distinguishes the group's presence in Australia, New Zealand and other international markets. These descriptions are useful for understanding its activities, although divisional names and reporting boundaries can change. ANZ announced in October 2026 that it would change divisional reporting to better align it with how the group manages customer relationships, allocates resources and measures performance.^[3][4]

Historical development

ANZ traces its heritage to the Bank of Australasia, established in London under a royal charter in 1835. That heritage is older than either the present operating bank's name or its listed-parent structure. In 1951, the Bank of Australasia and the Union Bank of Australia combined to form ANZ Bank. ANZ subsequently merged with the English, Scottish and Australian Bank in 1970, forming Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited. Thus, 1835 refers to a predecessor institution, 1951 to the formation of ANZ Bank through a merger, and 1970 to the formation of the banking group under its present operating-bank name.^[5][6]

The group's later expansion included the acquisition of Suncorp Bank, completed on 31 July 2024. ANZ described the transaction as adding scale to its Australian retail and commercial businesses and increasing its presence in Queensland. Completion of an acquisition and integration of its customers, systems and operations are different milestones: ANZ's June 2026 trading update said that Suncorp Bank integration remained in progress. Suncorp Bank should therefore be understood as a business acquired by the ANZ group, rather than as an alternative name for the entire group.^[7][8]

Banking activities and funding

In Australia, ANZ's retail activities encompass services to individual customers, while its commercial activities address business customers. Its institutional activities serve larger organisations and include markets-related services. The group also operates in New Zealand and other markets. The categories identify different customer relationships and sources of revenue; they should not be confused with separate listed companies merely because ANZ reports on them as businesses or divisions.^[2][3]

Like other banks, ANZ's reported results are affected by both lending and deposit activity. Customer deposits provide a source of funding, while loans and advances represent credit extended to customers. ANZ's June 2026 trading update reported that customer deposits rose by A$15 billion and net loans and advances by A$24 billion between 31 March and 30 June 2026. The same update reported a group net interest margin of 1.54% for the quarter. These are period-specific measures: movements in balances do not, by themselves, establish how much profit each activity generated or what its future performance will be.^[8]

The group also participates in markets activity. Its June 2026 update separately reported Markets income of A$507 million for the quarter. Separating that amount from lending and deposit figures helps illustrate why an institution with household and business customers can also be exposed to trading, operational and conduct risks associated with wholesale financial markets. ANZ's disclosures present these activities together at group level, but they have different customers and risk characteristics.^[3][8]

Financial reporting

ANZ reports both statutory profit and a measure it calls cash profit. They are not interchangeable. Statutory profit is the reported accounting result, whereas ANZ's cash-profit measure adjusts statutory profit for specified items. Readers comparing periods need to check the adjustments rather than treating an adjusted figure as if it were the statutory result. For the financial year ended 30 September 2025, ANZ reported statutory profit of A$5.891 billion and cash profit of A$5.787 billion. It also stated that cash profit excluding significant items was A$6.896 billion, illustrating how the treatment of those items changes a comparison.^[9]

For the half-year ended 31 March 2026, ANZ reported statutory profit of A$3.650 billion and cash profit of A$3.780 billion. Its subsequent update for the quarter ended 30 June 2026 reported unaudited statutory profit of A$1.95 billion and cash profit of A$1.90 billion. The half-year and quarter cover different lengths of time, and the third-quarter figures were expressly unaudited; they should not be presented as equivalent full-year results.^[8][10]

Capital measures provide another view of the bank that is distinct from profit. ANZ reported a Common Equity Tier 1, or CET1, ratio of 12.39% at 31 March 2026 and 12.51% at 30 June 2026. CET1 is a regulatory capital measure, not a deposit interest rate or a shareholder return. ANZ reports it alongside earnings and balance-sheet measures because a bank's capacity to absorb losses is relevant to prudential supervision as well as to financial reporting.^[8][10]

Regulation and depositor protection

ANZ's Australian banking activities operate within a regulatory framework involving the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). APRA's supervision addresses prudential matters, including capital and risk management; ASIC has brought proceedings concerning ANZ's conduct in financial services. The Reserve Bank of Australia is Australia's central bank, not ANZ's corporate parent. Keeping these institutional roles separate is important when considering a bank's financial condition, conduct and place in the broader system.^[11][12]

Eligible deposits at Australian-incorporated authorised deposit-taking institutions fall within the Financial Claims Scheme if it is activated following an institution's failure. APRA states that the scheme protects eligible deposits up to A$250,000 per account holder per authorised deposit-taking institution. The limit is not a guarantee of every balance or every type of financial product: APRA notes, for example, that its deposit coverage applies to qualifying accounts with funds in Australian dollars. The scheme concerns eligible deposits at an Australian institution and should not be assumed to apply in the same way to every product offered throughout ANZ's international network.^[13][14]

Regulatory matters

In April 2025, APRA accepted a court-enforceable undertaking from ANZ addressing weaknesses in non-financial risk management and risk culture. APRA increased an operational-risk capital add-on applied to ANZ from A$750 million to A$1 billion. The regulator said that weaknesses remained across the bank despite remediation work, while also describing ANZ as financially sound with robust capital and liquidity. The add-on was a prudential capital requirement; it should not be described as a fine or as a reduction of customer deposits.^[11]

ASIC announced in September 2025 that ANZ Bank had admitted misconduct relating to services provided to the Australian government, inaccurate reporting of bond-trading data and matters affecting retail customers. At that point ASIC said it would seek Federal Court approval for penalties totalling A$240 million. Describing that announcement as a request for court approval, rather than automatically as a penalty already imposed, preserves the distinction between a regulator's proposed outcome and a court order. The matters demonstrate that ANZ's conduct issues have concerned both institutional-market activity and customer-facing banking services.^[12]

ANZ's scale, history and range of activities make precise identification important. Its predecessor banks, operating bank, listed parent and acquired businesses are related but not identical entities. Similarly, group profits, Australian deposit protection and regulatory actions each apply within their stated reporting periods and legal scopes.^{[1][3][8][13]}