(18 October 2012 – New Zealand) ANZ’s merger with National Bank is getting down to the nitty gritty as ANZ moves 2.6 million customer accounts on to the Systematics computer system it inherited from its 2003 takeover of National Bank.ANZ spokesman, Stefan Herrick said the bank had spent NZ$221 million (A$175 million) on the technology merger, providing work for 200 contractors over the past two years, paving the way for the scrapping of the National Bank brand.
Chief operating officer Craig Sims said some of the bank’s services, including its ATMs and eftpos, would be available as usual over the weekend of 27-28 October, but there would be disruption to internet and phone banking and many branch services on Saturday and part of Sunday.
‘We are working hard to ensure services are offline for as little time as possible. However, we are asking customers who usually bank with us on weekends to do their banking before October 27 and 28,’ he said.
ANZ will keep extra branches open over the weekend and call-centre staff will be available around the clock.