19th century The Bank of Australasia was founded in
London in 1835. Its first branch was opened in Sydney on 14 December 1835. It combined with the Cornwall Bank, which was formed in
Launceston, Van Diemens Land in 1828. In 1837, Union Bank of Australia was established in London by a group of people including banker
George Fife Angas. The
English, Scottish & Australian Bank (ES&A) was established in London in 1852, and opened its first Australian branch in Sydney in 1853. The ES&A bank took over the
Commercial Bank of Tasmania and the
London Bank of Australia in 1921 and the Royal Bank of Australia in 1927.
20th century In 1951, the Bank of Australasia merged with Union Bank of Australia to form the Australia and New Zealand Bank (ANZ Bank). In 1963, the first computer systems established in new data processing centre in
Melbourne. In 1966, ANZ began operations in
Honiara,
Solomon Islands. In 1968, ANZ opened an office in
New York, US. In 1969, ANZ established a representative office in
Tokyo, Japan. On 1 October 1970, ANZ merged with the English, Scottish & Australian Bank to form the present organisation, Australia & New Zealand Banking Group. That same year, the bank began operating in
Vanuatu. In 1976, ANZ (PNG) was established. In 1977, ANZ transferred its incorporation from the UK to Australia. In 1979, ANZ acquired the
Bank of Adelaide. In 1980, the
Singapore and New York representative offices upgraded to branch status. In 1984, ANZ purchased
Grindlays Bank. In 1985, ANZ acquired
Barclays' operations in
Fiji and Vanuatu. That same year, the bank received a full
commercial banking licence and opened a branch in
Frankfurt, Germany, and announced ANZ Singapore. In 1988, ANZ opened branches in
Rarotonga, Cook Islands and
Paris, France. In 1989, ANZ purchased
PostBank from
New Zealand Government. During the 1990s, the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group acquired several banks. In 1990, this included
National Mutual Royal Bank in March and the
Town & Country Building Society in Western Australia in July. That same year, ANZ purchased Lloyd Bank's operations in
Papua New Guinea and the
Bank of New Zealand's operations in Fiji. In 1993, ANZ established new headquarters in
Melbourne, Australia. They also opened new branches in
Hanoi,
Vietnam, and
Shanghai,
China, and began a
joint venture with PT Panin Bank in
Indonesia. That year they also began operating in
Tonga and
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. In 1997,
John McFarlane was appointed
chief executive officer and the bank opened its Beijing branch. In 1999, ANZ formed a
strategic alliance with E*Trade Australia for online
share trading and purchased
Amerika Samoa Bank.
21st century In 2000, ANZ sold its Grindlays businesses in the Middle East and South Asia, and associated Grindlays Private Banking business to
Standard Chartered. In 2001, ANZ opened branches in Timor Leste and began offering credit card services in Hong Kong. In 2002, ANZ formed a
joint venture with
ING Group for wealth management and
life insurance business in Australia and New Zealand. The next year, ANZ acquired the
National Bank of New Zealand. In 2005, ANZ established the
ANZ Royal Bank in Cambodia, a joint venture with the Cambodian-based Royal Group company. In 2006, ANZ announced a new world headquarters in the
Melbourne Docklands and invested in the
Bank of Tianjin, China. In 2007, ANZ acquired E*Trade Australia and Citizen Securities Bank in Guam. Also in 2007, Mike Smith, formerly of
HSBC, became
CEO after the retirement of
John McFarlane in October and the company took over the naming rights sponsorship for Sydney's
Stadium Australia. In August 2009, ANZ purchased the
Royal Bank of Scotland's (RBS) operations in six Asian countries for $550 million. In September the company announced it would buy out ING Group's 51% stake of the joint venture, giving ANZ 100% control of ING Australia. That year ANZ also expanded its stake in the Bank of Tianjin. In 2012, ANZ announced the retirement of the National Bank brand in New Zealand. In 2016,
Shayne Elliott became CEO. In April ANZ partnered with
Apple to bring
Apple Pay to its customers. In 2017, ANZ acquired
REALas property price predictor start-up. In 2018, the
Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry heard that ANZ had failed to accurately verify the living expenses of home loan customers referred to the bank by mortgage brokers, believing that this was the responsibility of the brokers, in spite of a
conflict of interest in doing so; and that, due to processing issues, it had charged nearly 500,000 home loan customers the incorrect interest rate for more than ten years, leading the bank to overcharge customers by approximately $90 million.
Bloomberg Intelligence estimated in May 2020 that ANZ's surplus capital was A$3.4 billion (US$2.4 billion), with ANZ CEO Shayne Elliott telling
Bloomberg that the bank was "sitting on" the excess while it considered market trends. In February 2020, the
Federal Court of Australia fined ANZ AUD10 million for charging customers fees between 2003 and 2015 that it was not entitled to, equating to profits of around AUD3.1 million. The regulator said around 69,000 customers had been affected. For the year ending September 2020, ANZ posted a yearly profit of A$3.58 billion (US$2.53 billion), a decline of 40% from the A$6 billion in 2019, with the bank attributing the drop to the
COVID-19 pandemic and "full year credit impairment charges" of A$2.74 billion as a result. After tensions between China and Australia resulted in China imposing trade curbs on imports from Australia in October 2020, the CEO of ANZ stated to
CNBC that the company was also "looking for opportunities" in other Asian countries beyond China as well. It was reported in March 2021 that ANZ was planning to cut its workforce in China by half, and shift the positions elsewhere. In November 2021,
Reuters reported that ANZ was being sued by a law firm in a class action lawsuit for unfair contract terms, after ANZ allegedly charged interest on customer purchases that had been repaid on time. The lawsuit focused on charges levied prior to January 2019, when an Australian law outlawing charging retrospective interest had been implemented. In December 2021, ANZ pled guilty in a case filed by the
Australian Securities & Investments Commission to breaching its obligations as a financial services and credit licensee provider, and not fully disbursing benefits to 500,000 customers. An A$25 million penalty was proposed. ANZ said it was combining its digital division and its Australian retail business in February 2022. In March 2022, ANZ launched a digital bank called ANZ Plus. In April 2022, ANZ was involved in a joint venture with
Scentre Group,
Westpac,
IBM and the
Commonwealth Bank named Lygon, a blockchain startup. In July 2022, ANZ agreed to terms with
Suncorp to purchase
Suncorp Bank for $5 billion. However, the
Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) blocked the deal in August 2023. On 20 February 2024, the
Australian Competition Tribunal overturned the decision by the ACCC, paving the way for ANZ to acquire Suncorp Bank. In 2023, ANZ announced a strategic investment in Australian property media and technology company View Media Group (VMG). In March 2025, the Australian government provided ANZ with a A$2 billion loan guarantee for 10 years to ensure the bank's maintenance of its Pacific branch network to counter China's growing regional influence. As part of the agreement, ANZ would also invest A$50 million to support its services and expand digital banking in the Pacific region. ==Executive leadership==