ANZ restructures and plans cuts
(10 September 2008 – Australia) ANZ has announced an organisational restructure and new business model that will cut layers of management from the bank.
The new organisational structure set out by chief executive Mike Smith is designed to accelerate progress of the bank’s strategy to become a super regional bank, as well as lift customer focus and drive performance improvement.
The new structure will be set up around five main divisions. The three regional divisions to be set up will be Australia, New Zealand and Asia Pacific.
The other two divisions will be Institutional banking as well as a Wealth segment that will be established in the future. Both these divisions will be run on a global scale.
Each of the three geographies will have its own chief executive and will combine two originally separate customer segments; Retail and Commercial.
This means that small to mid sized business banking will effectively be folded into the retail business. In fact, current retail bank head, Brian Hartzer will run this overall Australian division.
Graham Hodges will be chief executive for the New Zealand division while Alex Thursby will continue to head up Asia Pacific. Thursby will also lead the Institutional division until a permanent appointment is made.
ANZ said that the new structure shifts ANZ away from a collection of standalone product and customer businesses to simpler, larger business structures.
Smith said that the new structure will reduce management layers between him and frontline staff from 12 layers to around seven.
The flatter structure reduces bureaucracy and complexity as well as creating greater transparency and accountability within the group, Smith said.
The new structure will be set up around five main divisions. The three regional divisions to be set up will be Australia, New Zealand and Asia Pacific.
The other two divisions will be Institutional banking as well as a Wealth segment that will be established in the future. Both these divisions will be run on a global scale.
Each of the three geographies will have its own chief executive and will combine two originally separate customer segments; Retail and Commercial.
This means that small to mid sized business banking will effectively be folded into the retail business. In fact, current retail bank head, Brian Hartzer will run this overall Australian division.
Graham Hodges will be chief executive for the New Zealand division while Alex Thursby will continue to head up Asia Pacific. Thursby will also lead the Institutional division until a permanent appointment is made.
ANZ said that the new structure shifts ANZ away from a collection of standalone product and customer businesses to simpler, larger business structures.
Smith said that the new structure will reduce management layers between him and frontline staff from 12 layers to around seven.
The flatter structure reduces bureaucracy and complexity as well as creating greater transparency and accountability within the group, Smith said.
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