News Release
For release: 4 April 2017

Transcript: BlueNotes interview with ANZ CEO
Shayne Elliott on Wealth Australia
The following is a transcript of a video interview with ANZ Chief Executive Officer Shayne
Elliott discussing the future of ANZ’s Wealth business.
The interview was conducted by Andrew Cornell, Managing Editor of BlueNotes, ANZ’s digitalpublication for news, opinion and insight and can be viewed at www.bluenotes.anz.com
Andrew Cornell

Morning Shayne and welcome back to BlueNotes. We’re talking this morning
about options for the Wealth business. You raised in November that you’relooking at a review and where the Wealth business might go in the future.
Different banks look to be heading in different directions with the wealthstrategy, where do you see it going?

Shayne Elliott

Well I think it’s important to start with the fact that all of the banks haveslightly different wealth businesses. Ours is actually quite unique, ours isvery different to some of our peers, so it’s probably pretty sensible that when
we think about the best way forward we will come to different conclusions
than perhaps they will.
We have a really strong business that tends to be really focused on life
insurance, and within that life insurance it’s very heavily focused on retail as
opposed to group life, which is a good thing. So our starting point is different.
Plus there is just a lot of change happening in the industry, from regulatorsand community expectations, so we have to put all of that in to the mix andthink about the best way forward for ANZ.

Andrew Cornell

Indeed when we look at community expectations and what you faced in
Canberra and what’s going on in the media, a lot of the reputational damage
to the banking industry has been concentrated in wealth, whether it’s advice
or insurance, does that play in to the decisions?

Shayne Elliott

Yes and no. I mean that’s certainly making it something that we need tospend a lot more time on as an industry and consider how we operate thesebusinesses and how we behave and how we think about them. But in termsof our decision and in terms of seeking a partnership model, not reallybecause actually the reputational damage is really about how to go to market
and engage with your customers. Well we are still going to be doing that asANZ.
We want to be talking to our customers about wealth solutions, aboutprotecting the things that are important to them and about saving for theirretirement so we’re still going to be in the business, we will just be doing itwith a partner who will be world class in terms of manufacturing andsupplying product.

Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited

ABN 11 005 357 522

Andrew Cornell

A couple of points there – you talk about a partner, so perhaps we can talkabout the range of options, but you’re not getting out of wealth then?

Shayne Elliott

No. We look at it very simply. Insuring things that are important to you,including your life, insuring your home, saving for your retirement, these aregood things. These are things that people should do. And we have an
obligation to provide these solutions to our customers. We’re a natural placethat they can come and have a conversation about that. But that doesn’tmean that we need to be actually manufacturing the product. So we want topartner with someone who is world class, who has the intellectual, thefinancial, the digital wherewithal to keep up and have terrific best in classproducts for those customers. But we will absolutely be in the business ofproviding those solutions to our customers.

Andrew Cornell

Have you got a clear picture then of what the future might look like? Or is
there a whole range of options?

Shayne Elliott

I think we have to keep a really open mind because this is a very different
business model than we’ve had today - where the classical vertical
integration where we own and operate everything. So it’s new, it’s a little bit
different. There are other parts of the world that are very comfortable in thispartnership model, but here in Australia and for ANZ, we’re going to keep anopen mind. We will be putting out an Information Memorandum shortly andthat will craft out a starting point for discussion, but what we will be saying isthat we want to learn and be open to the best way we can service ourcustomers and we want to be the best at this in Australia so we have to keep
an open mind in terms of how that might look in terms of detail.

Andrew Cornell

So information an Information Memorandum in the not too distant future.
Can you talk us through the process where you look at who might beinterested and how long?

Shayne Elliott

So maybe we will start with the ‘how long?’ This is going to take time, this isa pretty big decision. And this is more about cultural fit and a partnership,
not just a sale. We’re not just putting a ‘for sale’ sign up, that’s absolutely
not what we’re doing. We’re seeking really to form a partnership for a very
long period of time with an operator that we feel comfortable with and whowants to do the right thing by customers. That’s going to take a bit of time to
get to know people, so it’s something that we will be looking at. I’d be very
surprised if we have any major announcements before the end of thiscalendar year. In terms of the process, we will put together some informationin terms of what the business looks like – how many people, how good it is,what kind of customer base, what the financials look like. So we will send
that out to people who are interested and then we will engage in a series ofconversations with them.

Andrew Cornell

One of the options that has come up in this process is the option of a capital
markets solution. What is a capital markets option?

Shayne Elliott

Well that means is because it’s a really good business, it’s large, it’s very
valuable, many many billions of dollars, it may well be that in discussing withpartners looking at our options that all or part of this business gets listed on
the local stock exchange and available for people to invest in. That’s all weare talking about.
2Andrew Cornell

I look forward to speaking with you as the process goes on. Thanks verymuch for your time today.

Shayne Elliott

Thank you

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