ANZ's 2025 Annual General Meeting is a pivotal moment, and I'm honored to address you all as the CEO. Let's face it, change is inevitable, and today, we're here to discuss how ANZ is embracing it to create a brighter future.
I begin by acknowledging the Gadigal People of the Eora nation, the traditional custodians of the land where we gather. My respect goes out to the elders, past and present, and I extend this to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people present.
But here's where it gets controversial... Before we delve into our agenda, I want to address the recent tragic terrorist attack at Bondi Beach. On behalf of ANZ, our deepest condolences go out to those affected, especially our Jewish community and fellow Sydneysiders. Hate has no place in our society, and we stand united against violence.
Now, let's shift our focus to the business at hand. It's been an honor to join ANZ this year, leading a bank with an impressive 197-year legacy. And today, I stand here in Sydney, addressing my first annual general meeting, feeling privileged.
Since joining, I've had the pleasure of meeting many of you, our valued shareholders, customers, employees, and key stakeholders. Your feedback and insights have been invaluable as we navigate the path forward.
I've spent time in our key markets, from Australia and New Zealand to Hong Kong, India, the UK, and Singapore, conducting a thorough strategic review. During this process, we've taken significant steps to shape our future, aiming to create a stronger, customer-centric bank.
This journey included a settlement with ASIC to address regulatory matters and organizational changes to streamline our operations. As a result, our full-year statutory profit saw a 10% decline, primarily due to these necessary actions.
However, excluding significant items, our cash profit remained steady at $6.9 billion, and our Cash Return on Tangible Equity saw a slight decrease to 10.5%. Our balance sheet and capital position remain robust, with Common Equity Tier 1 at 12.03% as of September, an improvement of 25 basis points in the second half.
These results highlight the strength of our franchise but also emphasize the need for action. Our refreshed ANZ 2030 strategy, unveiled in October, is our roadmap to enhance the performance of our Australia Retail and Business & Private Banking divisions while maintaining our leadership in Institutional and New Zealand markets.
At the core of this strategy is our ambition to unlock ANZ's full potential, earning the preference of our customers, shareholders, and all stakeholders. ANZ 2030 is built on four strategic pillars:
- Customer First: We aim to raise the bar for every digital and human interaction, offering market-leading, differentiated, and superior propositions to our customers.
- Simplicity: To set the market standard for productivity, we'll simplify our organization, divest non-core assets, and boost efficiency.
- Resilience: Leading the industry in trust, safety, and risk management, we'll uphold the highest non-financial risk management standards and strengthen accountability across the bank.
- Delivering Value: To improve our financial performance sustainably, we'll create lasting value by delivering higher-returning growth and results that matter to our stakeholders.
Our strategy is supported by our core enablers: culture, people, and technology. It will be implemented in two clear phases:
- Phase 1 (FY26-FY27): Focused on immediate priorities, we'll ensure we get the basics right, including substantial productivity improvements and initial growth investments.
- Phase 2 (Beyond FY27): Building on our strong foundations, we'll accelerate growth and outperform the market.
Our most pressing priority has been assembling the right leadership team to execute our strategy and foster the right culture. As the Chairman mentioned, four new members have joined my Executive Committee, and together, we're building a culture of clarity, decisiveness, self-awareness, execution, and accountability, while motivating our workforce to embrace our strategy.
We're on track with our second priority: integrating Suncorp Bank to accelerate value creation for our shareholders, benefit our customers, and significantly reduce operational complexity. By June 2027, we'll complete a safe migration of Suncorp Bank customers to ANZ, and this process has already begun.
Our third priority, delivering the ANZ Plus digital front-end to all 8 million retail and SME banking customers by September 2027, is also progressing well.
We've made significant strides in simplifying the bank and reducing duplication. This involves halting initiatives misaligned with our strategy and prioritizing those that make the most impact for our customers. Enhancing our non-financial risk management is also a key priority, both now and in the future.
Extensive work is already underway to support our business and cultural transformation, ensuring a better-run bank for our customers. As CEO, I take full accountability for ensuring we get this right.
As I mentioned earlier, a cornerstone of our ANZ 2030 strategy is putting our customers first. While many CEOs claim their companies are "customer-focused," there's a vast difference between saying it and truly living it.
Despite our best intentions, we haven't consistently met our customers' expectations across all our businesses. Today, I want to emphasize that we're committed to getting back to growth by refocusing on the basics and relentlessly prioritizing our customers across every segment and business of ANZ.
This isn't just a catchy slogan; it's a mindset we'll instill throughout the organization. Over the next five years, we'll increase bankers in Australia Retail and Business & Private Banking by up to 50% and provide them with better tools.
We'll also sharpen our focus on customer service, supported by our recent launch of Bank@Post, giving ANZ customers access to banking services at over 3,300 Australia Post offices nationwide.
Helping customers during tough times is crucial, especially with cost-of-living pressures persisting despite a cyclical reduction in inflation last year. As of September, approximately four in every 1,000 Australian ANZ home loan customers and two in every 1,000 small business customers were receiving hardship assistance.
Importantly, over 68% of customers who entered hardship either paid off their facilities in full or were up-to-date on repayments within 12 months. We remain dedicated to keeping our customers safe from scams and fraud.
In 2025, our people and systems prevented and recovered over $220 million in scam and fraud-related funds across Australia and New Zealand.
Throughout the year, we've continued supporting the communities we serve. In Australia, this included launching our First Nations Strategy, committed to advancing economic self-determination over the next decade.
We've also expanded our financial education and matched savings program, Saver Plus, the largest of its kind globally. Funded by ANZ and the Australian government, Saver Plus is delivered in partnership with Berry Street Yooralla, Brotherhood of St Laurence, and The Smith Family.
This year, over 4,000 people participated in Saver Plus, totaling more than 66,000 since the program's inception in 2003. These participants have received around $28 million in matched savings from ANZ for education costs.
Our financial education program, MoneyMinded, has also grown, helping more adults with lower incomes enhance their financial skills, knowledge, and confidence.
Looking back on 2025, I see it as a period of significant but necessary change, laying strong foundations for future growth. As we look ahead to 2026, I want to remind you of our three key strengths:
- Strong Competitive Position: Our franchise boasts two scale markets, Australia and New Zealand, and two market-leading positions in our Institutional and New Zealand businesses.
- Diversified Business: We benefit from a strong presence in Asia, the world's fastest-growing economic region.
- Performance Improvement: We have the opportunity and obligation to enhance our performance in Australia Retail and Business Banking. In Institutional and New Zealand, we're focused on extending our leadership.
I'd like to express my gratitude to our customers for trusting us with their banking needs this year and to our employees for driving the necessary changes to support our strategy.
And, of course, thank you, our shareholders, for your support and for joining us today.
I now hand back to the Chairman.
For media enquiries, contact Lachlan McNaughton, Head of Media Relations, at +61 457 494 414.
For analyst enquiries, contact Cameron Davis, Executive Manager of Investor Relations, at +61 421 613 819.
This address has been approved for distribution by ANZ's Continuous Disclosure Committee.
