(13 January 2023 – Australia) Suncorp CEO Steve Johnston submitted confidential data to the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) supporting its sale to ANZ in the face of anti-competition criticism from the Consumers Federation of Australia (CFA).
Johnston’s submission dismisses the benefits of a purported merger with Bendigo or BoQ given the ACCC will apply scrutiny to all elements of the ANZ deal announced in July 2022. The ACCC’s ruling on the A$4.9 billion Suncorp sale is highly anticipated given it will undoubtedly set a precedent for future bank mergers.
ANZ and Suncorp ardently claim the deal creates a larger bank that is better able to compete against the Big Four majors, neobanks and international banks. ANZ has committed to retaining Suncorp’s branch network for at least three years and has said the acquisition would not result in any net job losses in Queensland. It also signed a long term deal to keep the Suncorp brand.
“Removing Suncorp Bank from the marketplace leaves us with the foregone conclusion that the other remaining second-tier banks can be acquired by the four majors. It is a disaster for effective competition. The newer digital banks, that were supposed to challenge the banking oligopoly have either been gobbled up by the big banks or closed their doors” commented CFA Chair Gerard Brody.
“The group has finite capital resources and currently it needs to allocate those finite capital resources and make capital investment decisions for two capital intensive businesses, the insurance business and Suncorp Bank” Johnston stated in his submission to the ACCC.
“Divesting Suncorp will allow ( program of digitisation and automation including its program to deliver a modernised technology platform, including new pricing engines and modern, cloud-based policy administrations” he added.