A few days after selling its Asian wealth operations to Singapore's DBS, ANZ has now announced its Australian wealth business could be next to go.
ANZ today announced a Statutory Profit after tax for the Financial Year ended 30 September 2016 of $5.7 billion down 24 percent and a Cash Profit of $5.9 billion down 18 percent.
CEO Shayne Elliott said he was pleased with the initial progress that has been made this year in reshaping the bank strategy and setting ANZ on a path towards a sustainable improvement in customer outcomes and shareholder returns.
Simplification of Business
Elliott's mantra since taking up the Chief Executive role has been for a simplification of the business. The sale of his Asian wealth management business to DBS helped in two ways to simplify, by lessening Asian exposure, which Elliott is known to be striving for, and by taking a complete business unit out of the bank.
This morning in Melbourne Elliot said, «We have established momentum in relation to the work that still needs to be done. This sets us up well to increase the pace of execution in 2017 and to deliver a better bank for customers and for shareholders.»
Australian Wealth Review
At the time of the 2016 Interim Result, ANZ advised that it was conducting strategic reviews of the Group’s Retail and Wealth business in Asia, and its Wealth businesses in Australia and New Zealand. The reviews considered each business within the context of the overall Group strategy including capital efficiency.
The strategic review of ANZ’s Wealth businesses in Australia and New Zealand concluded that while the distribution of high quality wealth products and services should remain a core component of the Group’s overall customer proposition, ANZ does not need to be a manufacturer of Life and Investments products.
Exploring Options
The initial focus will be on the Australian Wealth business where ANZ is exploring a range of possible strategic and capital market options that will maintain strong outcomes for customers.
This includes the possible sale of the life insurance, advice and superannuation and investments businesses in Australia. ANZ will pursue a disciplined approach to this process and will update the market as appropriate. The Wealth business in New Zealand will be considered separately during 2017.
