(13 July 2004 – New Zealand) ANZ and National Bank of New Zealand have merged their foreign exchange trading operations with the combined entity to be known as ANZ Investment Bank.The move forms part of the integration of the two banks after Australian bank ANZ bought National Bank of New Zealand last year from British bank Lloyds TSB.
The bank said no jobs had been lost in the merger of the respective FX operations, which saw the closure of ANZ’s Wellington based dealing room, and that the joint bank could even look to employ people.
The bank said National Bank staff in Wellington who serviced clients in Auckland had relocated to Auckland’s dealing room.
ANZ said the merger of the two operations would not affect the quality of financial information service providers in New Zealand and that it was a move towards more global negotiation of pricing.